


Somewhere to Belong

by Esselle



Series: Sun God Hinata [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gods, M/M, Porn With Plot, Porn with Feelings, Sexual Tension, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-27
Updated: 2016-04-16
Packaged: 2018-05-29 11:53:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 37,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6373717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Esselle/pseuds/Esselle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>‘ “I bet,” Tobio growled, “that you can’t even grant wishes at all.”</p><p>Hinata smiled, but his expression was terrifying. His eyes were wide and bright, too bright, burning gold. “Is that a challenge?” the little god asked.</p><p>Tobio smiled back, and his eyebrows drew down to form a frightening grin of his own. “Yeah. It is.”</p><p>The sun god’s hand blurred out, bending him forward, warm fingers pressed to the back of Tobio’s neck.</p><p>“Then <i>tell me your wish,”</i> Hinata said in his ear, his breath hot as his lips brushed over Tobio’s skin.’</p><p>--</p><p>Once a year, all the villages that follow the way of the sun offer up one of their own to be taken to the sun god's divine temple. Kageyama Tobio, an orphan and loner, never wanted to be chosen—and until the sun god appeared, no one ever wanted to choose him, either. All Tobio wants is to find a place he fits in. What he actually gets is another story entirely.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The Festival of Lights happened once a year, in every village that worshipped the sun god across the entire mortal realm. The week-long celebration of light and life was marked by nights bright with floating lanterns and candles, stirring music, and many nights of food and drink and dancing.

After a week, revelry would culminate on the summer solstice, the longest day of the year when the sun climbed into the sky with seemingly no intention of stopping. As it began its long descent, a beautiful young man or woman, one of the village’s favored children, would make one wish to be granted by the god of light. Then he or she would be spirited away to serve in the temple of the sun god for a full year, until the debt of granting the wish had been paid. Serving in the sun god’s house was the highest honor, and those who returned were changed, filled with great peace, but also a sadness, as if there was something the mortal realm lacked for them now.

The wish was always the same, a time honored tradition of faith, trust, and love shared between the people and their benevolent deity.

_“We wish for the sun to rise and set upon us, today, tomorrow, and all the rest of our lives.”_

All in all, the Festival of Lights was said to be one of the most beautiful tributes of any dedicated to the immortal gods. It was a merry, bawdy time (and was often said that nine months later would see the busiest time of the year for the midwives and nursemaids).

Kageyama Tobio couldn’t wait for it to end.

The solemn, dark-haired boy leaned against a tree some distance away from the rabble-rousing, sipping from a cup of something that tasted too sweet and heady on his tongue even after he’d attempted to water it down considerably. It was impossible to find a drink that wasn’t heavy with the flavor of wine during this week.

The sight of his reflection in one of the flat gold sculptures arrayed artistically around the festival grounds made him scowl. The occasion meant he was forced into putting more effort into his appearance than usual—but he didn’t own any fancy jewelry or nice clothing. The most he could do was actually take the time to apply the trademark black kohl the people of his village liked to wear, but he wasn’t very skilled at it. He squinted at his golden reflection. The kohl around his eyes was already smudging, making him look even more dour than usual. Just what he needed.

He would have loved to leave, to slip away while nobody was watching, but he knew that would only bring trouble. The only thing the elders of his village enjoyed more than pretending he didn’t exist was having a reason to discuss how he’d shamed them, _again_.

At least it was the last night. After the wish was spoken, the lights and noise would die down as the sun fell below the horizon, just a faint shimmer on the surface of the great river that wound its way past their village, until everything was dark and quiet once again. And it wouldn’t be long now, it was late into the night and though it was still light out, the telltale red and orange tinting the sky meant it was almost time.

“Oy, oy,” someone said nearby, “Look who it is. What are you doing over here in the dark, _Tobio?”_

Tobio tightened his grip on his cup. He knew that unpleasant drawl of his name all too well.

It was a group of people about his age. He knew all of them by name, had grown up with them side by side, though he wouldn’t necessarily call it growing up  _together_. They certainly weren’t friends. Currently, they all looked as though they were ranging from mildly to very drunk, and they all had their sights set on him with expressions he wasn’t fond of.

“Have to piss,” Tobio said instantly, turning on his heel to walk away.

“Where are you going, _Tobio?”_ the same boy asked again. He was sturdy and attractive, emboldened both by alcohol and the knowledge that he was the elder’s choice wish speaker for that year. “Shouldn’t you be with your family on a night like this?” He paused and then snapped his fingers as though he was just remembering something. “Oooh, I forgot. He doesn’t have one.”

The group laughed as Tobio glared. “You can still forget that after eighteen years? Idiot.”

The laughs died off. “What did you say?”

“I said I’m going to take a piss,” Tobio said, before a hand grabbed his shoulder to spin him around.

“You’re not going anywhere,” the other boy said menacingly. He was shorter than Tobio, but broader, and they glared at each other furiously when suddenly—

Somebody screamed. It would normally have gone unnoticed in the regular chorus of sounds, but the scream didn’t stop. It carried on and on, a rapturous wail, and then was joined by another voice, and still more. Tobio shook off the hand on his shoulder to look toward the noise, the group of young people with him similarly bewildered.

Then one of the girls screamed, “It’s the sun god!”

“Don’t be stu—” Tobio started to say, and then a brilliant light broke through the sky from seemingly nowhere, and everyone on the ground was forced to shield their eyes. When it dimmed enough to see again, there were gasps and shouts.

Floating in the air, still shining with a soft golden glow, was a young man—no, Tobio corrected himself, a young god. He was looking down at them all with an enormous smile on his face, excited and radiant. A different kind of light, Tobio thought, than the pale imitations of flickering candles they mounted for the festival. This light was strong and real—it wouldn’t go out just because a mortal breathed on it.

For the people who walked the path of the sun, a visit from their patron deity wasn’t altogether unheard of, though it was rare. There were always a few villages during the festival that witnessed the god of light walking among them. In fact, Tobio could remember a time years ago when their village had been one of the lucky ones, when he was still very small.

The boy—no, _god_ , Tobio had to keep reminding himself—descended to the ground slowly, looking around at his surroundings with nearly as much awe as was on the faces of the people below. As he got close enough for the specifics of his features to become visible, Tobio felt with a little jolt of shock that he still had _memories_. As young as he’d been, he could clearly remember the face of the sun god—bright, amber eyes in a round, open face, a small nose that turned up slightly at the end, the wide smile. That _hair_ , an orange color like the early touch of dawn or the first glimpse of evening. Windswept, like he’d spent the day running across the sky.

“Hinata,” he said quietly, for that was the sun god’s name, though humans rarely spoke it.

The god’s eyes flicked to the side and Tobio froze. For one brief second, he could have sworn those gold pools of light were staring right into his own dark eyes, and he felt warmed all over. Then he blinked, and Hinata had his feet on the ground, his arms spread wide in excitement as people clustered around him, blocking him from view.

The bullies had forgotten about him and were headed in that direction, jabbering about how the sun god might “take us to his temple in person!”

Tobio snorted, but after a moment, trailed after them reluctantly. If anyone spotted him hanging back now that the sun god had actually appeared, he’d catch hell for it.

The noise of shouting and music increased as he neared the center of the village, an open-air gathering place where the tall, sculpted pillars soared up to the sky out of the sandy earth, as though they were substituting for trees. The banquet tables set up were enormous, able to seat a hundred people on each side, and spread with so much food and drink that they were occasionally liable to break in two.

The focal point of the common area was a tall raised platform, on which sat an ornate, throne-like chair made of white stone, inlaid with gold. The seat of the sun was used only once a year by the chief elder of the village as he selected the wish speaker. Just then, it was still empty.

Tobio had mostly lost sight of the sun god—here and there, he’d catch a glimpse of the fiery hair, but people were doing their best to brush by him, or speak to him, or offer him a drink from their cup. He seemed delighted by all of it, taking time to attend to every person who approached him.

A slight snort escaped Tobio. It was a little depressing that a god could be swayed by such overly saccharine displays of devotion. But then, he supposed, that was the whole point. This was a timeless ceremony—everyone knew very well what they were doing. Sullenly, he took an enormous bite out of a dessert piled high with honey and cream, and settled for contemplating the foolishness of those around him, both god and mortals alike.

 _“Uwaah—”_ said a voice at his shoulder, startling him. “What are you eating? That looks good, I want to try it, too!”

“It’s—” Tobio started to respond, then glanced down, his voice stuttering to a halt.

This time, there was no doubt about it, he was looking directly into the smiling eyes of a god.

He took a step backwards, startled. Hinata took a step forward, smiling. Up close, Tobio could see the way the golden powder lining his eyes glimmered, pretty against his fair eyelashes. It matched the gold bands that encircled his slender arms and ankles, and the broad gold collar around his neck. Even without the jewelry, the sun god would have been a brighter presence than any other at the party. But the gold on his body seemed to catch every glint of fading sun, every flicker of flame, like each point of light was drawn into him.

He was small, Tobio remembered, even after so many years. Then he realized how stupid that thought was, because Hinata obviously hadn’t grown or gotten older at all—they looked to be around the same age now, actually.

“I—” Tobio said, at a loss. He was sure there was some sort of greeting or etiquette he should be observing here, but he was damned if he remembered what it was. “Do you want me to go get you one?”

“No.” Hinata grinned and stretched out his hands. The next thing Tobio knew, his face was being held by the spirit of the sun itself, as Hinata pulled him down so they were at eye level. He swallowed nervously.

Hinata’s hands were warm, far warmer than a mortal’s would have been. The heat from his bare chest seemed to seep into Tobio’s own, and now that Tobio was so close to him, he could see that the god was still glowing, very slightly, his skin shining and lit up from within. He was sweet-smelling, but Tobio couldn’t tell whether it was from the traces of sugar and wine on his breath, or his own natural scent. Their faces got even closer together, and as Hinata’s eyes fluttered closed, Tobio thought, slightly panicked now—

_Did we learn about this in the orphanage?_

Something hot and wet traced the corner of his mouth, just catching at the edge of his lip. Fingers brushed lightly over his cheeks. Then Hinata released him, and he jerked back upright stiffly, staring in shock.

“That _was_ good,” Hinata affirmed, nodding.

“Did you just _lick_ me?” Tobio blurted out before he could stop himself. His face felt hot, and his lips were tingling, sensitive. _Why_ was he out of breath? He glared at Hinata, who was clearly entirely at fault.

Hinata paused at rubbing his mouth and laughed. Tobio looked around to see if anyone else had noticed the entire exchange, but they were the only two people at the edge of the festival goers. That was… extremely odd, he thought, but then he caught a flash of red hair through the crowd. He glanced back, but Hinata was still standing there next to him. He looked very amused.

“The light,” he said, inclining his head in the direction of all the people. “It can play tricks on the eyes, you know.”

“Ah,” Tobio said, blankly.

“Aren’t you going to tell me your name?” Hinata asked, and Tobio got the distinct feeling he was being teased. This was nothing new, and it wasn’t a feeling he particularly enjoyed.

“Kageyama Tobio,” he said.

“Are you from here? Or just visiting?” Hinata continued.

Tobio shifted awkwardly. It was true, the village did get many visitors close to the time of festivities. But… “I grew up here.”

“So this is your home,” Hinata said. “But… it feels sort of like you don’t fit in, doesn’t it?”

Tobio sucked in a breath. When he looked back to Hinata, the god’s head was tilted to the side inquisitively, like he was studying him.

Tobio was not used to being watched. He was used to being ignored. He was also not used to carrying on a conversation that didn’t end in annoyance on the part of one or both parties. But he couldn’t say he was annoyed with Hinata—instead, he felt restless. The way Hinata watched him made him feel like someone was holding a flame too close to him, exposing him. Perhaps he should back away, but that wasn’t in his nature.

When he finally answered, his voice came out more gruff than he’d intended. “You tell me. You’re the god, after all.”

“Do I look like the god of wisdom to you?” Hinata asked.

Tobio considered, taking in the big, earnest eyes, the slight flush over his skin that may very well be from all the wine tasting, the thin, fluttery wrap about his waist that was most certainly too short and could not be very practical for traveling about the world— “No. Definitely not.”

Hinata’s eyebrows went up. “Hey, it feels like you said that a little too quickly.”

“Well, ask a stupid question…” Tobio said, crossing his arms.

“How was it stupid?!”

“You showed up glowing like the sun about an hour ago, your hair is orange _also like the sun_ , you're visiting a village that worships _the sun,_ ” Tobio pointed out. “I know you’re not the damn god of wisdom.”

Hinata looked very offended. Too late, Tobio remembered he was talking to a god.

“Uh, with all due respect,” he added quickly.

Hinata put both hands on his hips and Tobio wondered briefly if it would burn to be smote by the god of the sun, or whether he would just instantaneously ignite into ash without the chance to feel anything.

But whatever Hinata wanted to say, it never came. Instead, the sound of booming drums filled the air. They both turned to see that the crowd was dispersing, making way for the elders, and all the wish speaker candidates for that year.

“You’re not one of them?” Hinata asked from Tobio’s side. “You look the right age.”

“Does anything else about me look the right _anything?”_ Tobio scoffed. The people of the village were all happy faces, hair in shades of gold and red and delicate brown, eyes light and clear. It was only he, with his severe dark haircut, dark eyes, and scowling expression, that stood out. Hinata had a point—Tobio did look like an outsider.

“Do you have a wish?” Hinata asked.

Tobio rolled his eyes. “We wish for the sun to rise and set upon us—”

“I didn’t ask if _they_ had a wish,” Hinata said, gesturing to all the people. “I asked if _you_ had one.”

In the next blink, Hinata was no longer standing next to him.

He looked up at the procession and saw that the seat of the sun had been occupied by the little god. It was much too large for him, yet he seemed to fill it completely. He held up his hands, and the entire crowd stilled. It was odd, Tobio thought, how he could be so small but have so much power. Yet he didn’t feel intimidating. He was strange, for a god.

As the wish speaker hopefuls lined up before the seat of the sun to hear who had been selected by the elders, Tobio wandered closer, still content to stand at the back of the crowd of people watching the proceedings.

He, along with the rest of the village, stared up at the line of lovely boys and girls. He had never so much as been asked by the elders if he would consider making the wish, let alone sought after and pursued like they had been. Hinata was looking down at them all with great interest.

“Sun God,” one of the elders said in his feeble, croaking voice, “our brightest light—now that you have graced us with your presence, we ask of you one more favor. Will you choose from these strong, sweet children, who have devoted of their lives to you, to make the wish of our people known?”

Hinata beamed. “I will!”

“Then, please…” the elder bowed to him and shuffled out of the way.

Hinata bounded to his feet, approaching each young man or woman in turn. Most of them stood a few inches taller than him, so he had to stand on tiptoe to look into their faces.

Tobio noticed they each had a similar reaction to his presence. Whether it was because of the heat off the little god’s body, or the way his eyes caught and held a gaze, each person could only stand frozen as he focused his attention on them. When he raised himself up to look at them, the hem of his skirt pulled precariously upwards, exposing legs that were slim and soft, yet strong. Often, his body would press against theirs as he leaned in, his hands brushing over their faces gently like he had done to Tobio, and when he pulled away, each person was flushed, breathing a little faster, lips parted or caught between their teeth.

It was a little…

Tobio shook his head, and rubbed at the back of his neck, which had grown hot. _Dumbass god_ , he thought. He should be more aware of the effect he could have on mortals.

When he finished walking down the line of people set before him, Hinata returned to the seat of the sun, where he sat deep in thought.

“Have you made your decision, Sun God…?” the elder prompted after several minutes passed without Hinata saying a word.

Hinata looked up and suddenly smiled again. “Yes.”

Then he looked into the crowd, straight at Tobio.

“Kageyama Tobio, tell me your wish.”

Utter silence fell. Then, as one, the entire crowd shifted to look toward the back, where Tobio stood, staring blankly. Suddenly, he realized in a rush what had happened.

 _“Haah?”_ he barked loudly, too stunned to say anything worthwhile.

Hinata rested his cheek on his fist, looking impatient. “What’s your wish?”

Now other people were reacting, snapped out of their stupor.

“Sun God,” the elder was saying, “may I suggest you choose from one of the children we have carefully selected? We have watched them for many years and they are all strong in your ways of—of _gaiety_ , and joy—”

“You _don’t_ want him,” Tobio’s bully cut in desperately. “Trust me, you definitely— _does he even know the words?”_ he whispered to the girl standing next to him, who shrugged helplessly, looking like she was near tears.

“I know the words!” Tobio interjected irritably. Seriously, if it was such a big deal… _“We wish for the sun to rise and set upon us, today, tomorrow, and all the rest of our lives._ There, done.”

There was an instant uproar.

“So disrespectfully!” The elder spluttered, clutching at his heart. “Never, in all my years—if I’d said the words that way when I was your age—”

A girl was crying and clutching one of the other boys. “I practiced those words every day for my whole life and he just—!”

“Exile!” the bully shouted. “Send him away!”

As cries of agreement sounded from the crowd, Tobio held up his hands. “Wait! Calm down, I’ll—I’ll say it again, the right way!”

But they didn’t quiet down until Hinata himself raised a hand again. When everyone had stopped yelling, he extended that hand to Tobio.

“Come here,” he said, a command, not a request. The crowd parted, allowing Tobio through without a hindrance. He stopped when he came to stand right in front of the raised platform, in front of the throne and Hinata. The sun god was watching him expectantly.

It was kind of infuriating, wasn’t it? Thanks to this tiny, tousle-haired, so-called god, Tobio had been put on the spot. Had angered and disappointed everyone yet again. All for this overblown adoration—wishes spoken by the ‘worthy’, by bullies who had made sure he had been alone and friendless his whole life, because he was a little bit different.

No, that wasn’t right. It was because he was completely different. He was an outsider. He’d never fit in, and everyone knew it.

Maybe it was because he was so different, but Tobio had always seen the festival as nothing more than an excuse for the people, a reason to forget responsibility, to dance and eat and make love, all in the name of some sun god who rarely, if ever, showed his face.

And suddenly, there Hinata was—and he seemed fine with it. _Pleased_ by it, no less. And now he, too, wanted to try and isolate Tobio, to get under his skin by asking stupid, impossible questions?

So—did he have a wish?

Tobio clenched his fists.

Damn right he had a wish. But first—a question of his own.

“Are you telling me,” he said to Hinata, “that the sun god has to grant a _wish_ for the sun to rise in order to do his damn job?”

Hinata’s eyebrows knitted. “Is there something wrong with that?”

Tobio pointed an accusing finger at him. “It’s _bullshit!”_

There were more gasps from the crowd, and people even rushed forward to restrain him—but Hinata shook his head and they stopped. Tobio didn’t.

“I bet,” he growled, “that you can’t even grant wishes at all.”

Hinata stood from the seat and hopped off the platform to stand in front of Tobio, so close that he had to look up to meet Tobio’s angry gaze.

He was still smiling, but his expression was terrifying. His eyes were wide and bright, too bright, burning gold.

“Is that a challenge?” the little god asked him.

Instead of backing down, Tobio pulled himself up to loom over Hinata. Then he smiled, and his eyebrows drew down to form a frightening grin of his own. “Yeah. It is.”

The sun god's hand blurred out, so fast Tobio barely saw the movement before he was being bent forward, warm fingers pressed to the back of his neck.

 _“Tell me your wish,”_ Hinata whispered one last time, his breath hot as his lips brushed against Tobio’s skin. Tobio thought he felt the slightest graze of teeth over the outer shell of his ear, and couldn’t suppress the shiver that snuck its way up his spine.

Turning his head, he found himself nose to nose with the sun god. He licked his lips and Hinata’s eyes flicked to his mouth before they settled back into trading gazes. Tobio breathed deeply. He sensed that the next words out of his mouth he would not be able to take back.

“I wish I could find out who my family is. And why…”

“Why they left you?” Hinata supplied.

Tobio frowned. Yes, he did want to know. There had been no accident, no deaths or young couple to mourn. His parents had left him in the village as a baby and never come back for him.

“That’s a little vague…” Hinata murmured.

 _“And,_ ” Tobio added hurriedly, dropping his voice. “I wish I could find some place I fit in. Anywhere’s better than this. I don't care.”

Hinata was nodding at him, pulling away as the fire faded from his eyes. “Selfish.”

Tobio shrugged. “Nobody else ever did anything for me.”

Hinata surprised him with a sudden grin. “Until now.”

He turned back to the crowd, who were watching the proceedings in shock.

“We’ll be going now!” Hinata announced. “I thank you all for welcoming me to your village!”

“W-wait—” the elder cried. “What about—”

“Your level of devotion has moved me!” Hinata said. “I will grant not one, but two wishes this year. The sun will rise and set.”

“Oh, come _on_ ,” Tobio started to say, but Hinata grabbed him around the waist, fitting his slender frame against Tobio’s taller one. He slung one of Tobio’s arms over his shoulder.

“Ready?” he asked.

“For what—” Tobio began, his question cutting off in a shout as Hinata bent his legs, then sprang up off the ground, leaping high into the air in an instant. Tobio’s stomach did a horrible flip, but before he had time to wonder if he was about to vomit on the crowd below (which, honestly, wouldn’t have been a bad option), a blinding, incredible glow blossomed before his eyes, and the next second, he and Hinata had disappeared from the sky.

*

He didn’t know how long it took them to reach solid ground again. It could have been a few seconds or a few hours, but the feeling was a blessing beneath Tobio’s feet. He was still blinded, his eyes watering and vision swimming from the intense light that had surrounded them right before they’d…

What had happened? He felt Hinata’s arms slide away, releasing him, and he wobbled uncertainly and fell to the floor, which was cool under his touch. As the haze slowly cleared from his eyes, he was met by a sight that stole his breath away (even as he tried not to show it).

The ‘temple’ was so large, it may as well have been a small city. The white buildings, made of marble run through with veins of gold, were built right upon the bank of an immense river that wound away into the distance as far as the eye could see. Stone steps leading to the buildings were sunk right into the deep green water. Lush ivy grew over the sides of all the buildings, sprouting flowers here and there, and clear water flowed through the floor of the temple itself in narrow, glimmering aqueducts, which caught the light of the sun and threw it back reflecting on all surfaces.

“Where… are we?” Tobio asked.

“My home,” Hinata said. “Now yours, too. Let’s find somewhere to put you!”

He was off, without even glancing back at Tobio, who closed his mouth after a moment to hurry after him.

No one had ever, not once, offered him a place in their home before.

He felt a little stir of panic rising up inside him again. What should he do? Hinata was barefoot—should he also have taken off his sandals? Should he have thanked Hinata for the hospitality? How would he ever learn his way around the place, he wondered, as Hinata turned corner after corner. The temple seemed to be never-ending. Tobio caught glimpses of stretching hallways, courtyards, what looked like a hot springs, rooms upon even more rooms—it was exhausting.

Tobio was beginning to wonder if they would ever reach an actual destination, when Hinata pushed through a large archway covered by a curtain of dangling ivy, and then Tobio was standing blinking in awe again at the sight before him.

Within the larger temple, at its very heart, was a secluded area, the ground blanketed by soft grass, with glimmering pools fed by tall waterfalls. There was open sky above, where the first stars were just beginning to shine, big and bright. An enormous flight of stairs led to a gleaming golden temple set at the very top.

Hinata began bounding up the steps, only stopping when he realized Tobio was no longer behind him.

“Planning to sleep out here?” Hinata asked, then grinned. “Could be fun, I’m up for it.”

“Where else am I supposed to stay, in there?” Tobio demanded. “In that gold _thing?”_

Hinata shrugged. “That's where I sleep.”

“You sleep?” Tobio asked, caught off guard.

“I don’t _have_ to,” Hinata said. “But isn’t it kind of nice, once in awhile?”

“Yeah… I guess?” Tobio said, as he reluctantly followed Hinata up the steps.

The temple was as breath-taking inside as it was out. It was less likely Tobio would get lost in it, but that didn’t make the collection of massive bedrooms, sitting rooms, bathing rooms, all _kinds_ of rooms, any less impressive. Hinata went from door to door, inspecting them all, muttering to himself, until finally:

“This one!”

Tobio padded through the door after him. The room was enormous, of course, with some kind of deep, hollowed out bath that spanned from one wall to the other, floor to ceiling archways that led to a balcony from which he could see the waterfall pools, and a bed so large, Tobio was briefly concerned he might get lost in the sheets.

“This is…” he shook his head at Hinata. “This is too much.”

“Don’t be stupid,” Hinata waved a hand. “This is perfect.”

“Perfect?” Tobio asked. He was used to his tiny bungalow, one room only, a small wooden bed taking up nearly half the space. He didn’t even have a bathroom inside his house—it was easier to just bathe in the river on his doorstep. “How is this perfect?”

“Because,” Hinata said, now heading for the door. “My room is just on the other side.” He pointed to the wall behind the bed. “You may as well get comfortable, you’ll be here a year, after all.”

“I still have to pay off the debt?” Tobio repeated. “This was all your idea! Can you even grant my wish?”

But Hinata was already waving goodbye as he shut the door behind him. Tobio stared at it.

“Dumbass Hinata!”

The door popped open again and Hinata stuck his head back in. “What was that?”

“Nothing!”

Hinata grinned. “Yell if you need me.”

And he was gone.

“Tch!” was all the noise Tobio made, glaring at the closed door.  _D_ _umbass Hinata,_ he thought again.

*

Sometime later, after his first attempt at drawing a bath had concluded with him falling naked into freezing water, Tobio drained his second attempt, still piping hot. He could see how it might be nice to have such things, once in awhile. He wasn’t one for indulgences but the warm, boneless feeling in all of his limbs was making a strong case for itself.

There were fresh clothes in the cupboard, and large squares of cloth for him to dry himself off with. He had just finished dressing when someone knocked on his door. Curious, he went to it and cracked it open.

Hinata breezed in, pushing past him into the room. “Oh, you took a bath?” he remarked, noticing the still draining pool and Tobio’s wet hair. “Are you warming up to the place, then?”

“What are you doing back here already?” Tobio shot back.

“I came to get you,” Hinata said. “You were taking forever.”

Tobio raised an eyebrow. “What did you come to get me for?”

Hinata smiled. There was something about being on the receiving end of that gaze that made Tobio anxious, and before he knew it his back was up against the door he’d just opened, with Hinata right in front of him. It snapped shut as he leaned against it. Hinata reached out, one finger running lightly over the waistband of the linen wrapped around his hips, before he slipped it between Tobio’s skin and the cloth. Tobio felt his finger slide over the light dusting of hair that trailed down from his navel and couldn’t stop the small puff of air that escaped his lips.

“What are you…”

Hinata laughed, and leaned away from him. Tobio remembered to breathe.

“I was just wondering if this is all you’re going to wear,” Hinata said.

“To _what?”_ Tobio asked.

“My homecoming banquet,” the sun god told him, like it was obvious. “Don’t you learn about that down there? The first night of your year here we all gather for a feast.”

“Why would they have told me that?” Tobio asked. “No one expected me to be here, remember?”

“Oh, right,” Hinata said. “Well, hurry up and finish getting ready, because you’re _really_ late. Food’s gonna be cold.”

That was certainly no good. “I’m ready, let’s go,” Tobio said immediately, wondering what kind of food there would be. He was already hungry.

“You’re kidding, right?” Hinata asked. He looked pointedly at the offending cloth wrap around Tobio’s waist.

“What the hell else do I need?” Tobio ground out.

“Go sit down on the bed,” Hinata said, fluttering his hands. “Sit, sit.”

Tobio sighed deeply, but did as he was told. Hinata went rooting around in one of the many dressers. The room had a large store of all the things someone could want during their stay, linens, elaborate garments in every shade and type for men and women, color for eyes and lips and cheeks for those who chose to wear it. Hinata finally found what he was looking for, a small black wedge of kohl.

“Is this really that important?” Tobio grumbled. “We all just had a solid week of feasting for you, you know.”

“It’s your first night here,” Hinata said, shooing him further up onto the bed. “Don’t you think it should be special?”

He pulled himself up onto the bed and crawled into Tobio’s lap to peer up into his face.

“Um…” Tobio said uncertainly, leaning away with his hands on the bed behind him. He wasn’t quite sure what to do with the lapful of sun god he found himself suddenly supporting.

“Hold still,” Hinata ordered. “And lean down.” He sighed in annoyance, tugging Tobio forward and pulling the dark-haired boy’s arms around his waist. “How do you expect me to do this with you that far away? Close your eyes.”

“I really wasn’t expecting you to do it at all,” Tobio pointed out, shutting his eyes as Hinata pulled himself closer. The sun god put a hand on his face, holding his chin in place. With the other, he started to line Tobio’s eyes with the kohl, lightly.

With his eyes closed, Tobio had nothing to focus on but what it felt like to have Hinata this near to him, on top of him. With his arms around Hinata’s waist, he could feel how tiny Hinata really was, and how warm.

“Did you do it yourself? Before, I mean,” Hinata said. He spoke softly, his voice a low hum, his breath a warm whisper. It _was_ he that smelled of something sweet.

“Yes,” Tobio said, trying to nod, but his face was held firmly in one position.

“I could tell,” Hinata said, a tiny snicker escaping him.

“Shut up,” Tobio said, the harsh words leaving him before he could stop himself. But he heard Hinata laugh again. “I don’t have anything I can use to look at myself in my house.”

“But no one ever showed you how to do it?” Hinata asked.

“No,” Tobio said. “But it’s not really that hard to figure out.” Hinata used his thumb to rub gently over his eyelids and under his eyes, smudging the black powder. He blew onto Tobio’s face to get rid of the excess, shifting in his lap, and their hips suddenly rocked together.

Tobio’s breath caught in his throat, his own hips rolling upward a fraction of an inch into that heat before he could stop himself. He grit his teeth and held absolutely still, hoping against hope Hinata hadn’t noticed.

“Well,” Hinata said quietly, “if you do it right, it can really make a difference. You can open your eyes.”

Tobio did, to find Hinata very close to him, looking at him very intently, surveying his handiwork. The little god smiled.

“Yeah,” he said. “I’ll do it for you from now on.”

Tobio opened his mouth to say he didn’t need Hinata to do anything for him (besides the whole wish-granting affair, in the unlikely event that was even possible), but what came out instead was, “Fine.”

“So ungrateful,” Hinata teased. “Oh, one more thing.”

He reached his hands up behind his neck and unhooked the gold collar he wore.

Tobio shook his head. “You don’t have to—”

“I know,” Hinata said. “I just want to see what you look like.” Before he put it on, he reached out, brushing a few beads of water off Tobio’s collarbone and shoulders with his fingers, before tugging on the strands of wet hair at the nape of his neck.

“Hey, dry your hair next time,” he said softly. “Do you want to get sick?”

Tobio blinked at him, dazed. Hinata’s warm hands were a sharp contrast to the cool droplets of water that rolled down his chest and back. It was a strange sensation, the warmth comforting, and the cold electrifying.

“I…” he shook his head. “I’ll be fine. It’s kind of—it’s warm, in here? I feel warm. So, this feels good. Um…” What was he babbling on about?

Hinata reached around him to clasp the broad collar around his neck. The metal was still warm to the touch from where it had rested against Hinata’s skin. It was hard to sit up straight, to not just melt into all this heat—but then Hinata was climbing off him, urging him to his feet. Right. The banquet.

Hinata looked him over and nodded. “Great. Let’s go.”

On their way out of the temple, Tobio saw himself reflected in one of the golden walls and did a double take. With the jewelry and carefully applied liner around his eyes, he looked different. The gold contrasted nicely with his jet black hair, and the kohl was smudged in a way that made his usual frown seem to smoulder—a counterpoint to the bright flame that bounced along ahead of him, leading the way. He looked forward and caught Hinata grinning at him over his shoulder.

“What?” he asked irritably.

“Nothing. You look good,” Hinata told him. “That’s what you were just thinking.”

“I was not,” Tobio said, and then again, “Shut up.”

Hinata’s grin only widened.

The feast was set up in a courtyard right by the river and was already well underway when they entered, standing at the top of a flight of stairs leading down into the room.

It seemed to Tobio like there was a change in mood when they entered. First an excited buzz at the sight of Hinata, and then a strange lull when the people there caught sight of Tobio following behind. But Hinata didn’t seem to notice. Instead he beamed, spreading his arms wide.

“Thank you for staying,” he called out, “at my home!”

A great cheer went up as he bounded down the stairs and quickly disappeared into the crowd, leaving Tobio to follow slowly and reluctantly behind. At the very least, attention seemed to have turned away from him entirely, leaving him free to peruse the wide selection of food. It hadn’t been that long since he’d last eaten, but with everything that had happened, he was already hungry again.

He had just begun piling one of the golden plates high with food when a laughing voice nearby said, “Hey, woah, slow down there.”

He turned to see a young man around his age standing there with his arms crossed, a smile on his face that left his eyes cold. His posture and the swagger in his step all reminded Tobio strongly of the bullies he was always dealing with at home in his village.

“I’m hungry,” he responded abruptly.

“Sure, yeah, you must be,” the other man said. “Big as you are.” Tobio nodded once and attempted to duck around him but, “Where are you staying? North side?”

Tobio hadn’t the slightest clue how to describe his new quarters. Just how much did the actual wish speakers learn about sun temple life before they were chosen, anyway? He settled for describing it as best he could. “I’m in the gold thing. The little temple, with all the waterfalls around it.”

The man laughed—but his smile quickly faded when Tobio didn’t join in. “Wait,” he said. “You’re kidding, right? You’re staying in the sun god’s sanctuary?”

“Is that what it’s called?” Tobio asked blankly.

“How did he pick _you_ to stay there?” the other man demanded. “What, did your elders have you chosen since you were a little kid?”

The idea of this was so ridiculous that Tobio couldn’t help but stare. “Not really. I just followed Hinata.”

The man gaped at him, but before he could respond, there was an excited commotion across the room, and they both turned to look.

A group of girls had gotten up to dance, and were pulling Hinata along in their wake. He went willingly, seemingly unconcerned about all eyes turning to watch him. Tobio took advantage of the momentary distraction to mutter a goodbye and escape into the crowd.

He focused on shoveling several different varieties of fruit tart into his mouth, and on looking as tall and irritable as possible, and hoped the combination of the two things would cause him to be left undisturbed. It was easy to seem annoyed when he remembered he couldn’t leave the feast early. He had no idea how to get back to his room, not even after he’d tried to pay attention to the path they’d taken as Hinata had led him to the feast. And it appeared that no one else was staying at the sanctuary, so he couldn’t exactly follow anyone out…

Why _was_ he the only one staying in Hinata’s temple, he wondered, as he licked his sticky fingers. Maybe it had something to do with his strange wish. He glanced back in Hinata’s direction, wondering how long the sun god would expect to stay at the feast, and faltered. He didn’t know when they had stopped, but the dancing girls were no longer surrounding Hinata.

He danced alone, caught up in the music like he was in a trance, the slow, rhythmic beat of the drums matching perfectly to his swaying movements. Somehow, no one seemed to be watching him now—no one except Tobio, who stood rooted to the spot, unable to take his eyes off him.

The undulation of the god’s hips was hypnotic, his bare stomach and sides gleaming in the firelight like the gold jewelry he wore. Even standing where he was, Tobio could somehow see the beads of sweat that trailed down Hinata’s neck, over the curve of his back, and between his thighs. They lingered on his skin in the warm, humid air. Some dim, distant corner of his mind was surprised that a god _could_ sweat, and he wondered if it smelled as enticing as the rest of Hinata, if it might taste sweet.

Hinata’s eyes slid closed and his lips parted open as he rolled his hips, sinuous and slow. He was moving through some kind of dance form Tobio remembered being shown at the orphanage long ago. That had been nothing like watching the actual god of light weaving his way through the steps. It had seemed boring, back then, just another ritual the elders drilled into his head. Nothing that made him feel the ‘call to worship’, as they called it.

But the way Hinata moved his body made Tobio want to go to his knees.

And then those amber eyes opened, as Hinata threw a glance over his shoulder and saw him watching. His lips curved into a dangerously innocent smile. Then he looked away.

Tobio shoved through the crowd in his haste to get through it. People seemed to block him at every opportunity, though no one glanced at him or seemed troubled by his frantic pushing, as though they weren’t seeing him. He lost sight of Hinata, couldn’t spot him again until he was on the other side and there was nobody standing between him and the sun god.

Hinata was waiting.

“I was wondering when you were going to come find me,” he said. “Are you tired?”

“No,” Tobio shook his head.

“Do you want to dance?”

Tobio shook his head again. “No… I’m not very good.”

“You're not?” Hinata smiled as he moved closer, pacing a slow circle around Tobio. “I can teach you. Somewhere where there are less people, if you want.”

Tobio swallowed. Hinata was close to him—as close as he’d been in Tobio’s room, on his lap, but it suddenly felt different. There it had been warm and hazy, but now the air between them was hot, like he was standing too close to a fire. Then he felt the faint brush of fingers at the small of his back.

He sucked in air and straightened up, his whole body filling with heat. The slow burn that had been building inside him every time Hinata was close was starting to boil over. He was—

“Hinata,” he said hoarsely, and the little god looked at him through lowered eyelashes with an expression that did not help Tobio’s situation at all.

“We can go,” Hinata said, his voice coming out breathless. He ran his thumb down the inside of Tobio’s arm, over his wrist and palm, brushing off the tip of his middle finger. Tobio’s hands went reflexively to Hinata’s shoulders, gripping tight as his legs started to shake. Hinata looked up at him, no longer coy, his eyes wide and eager. “We can go _right now_.”

Tobio tried to pull away. “No, no— _wait_ —”

Hinata put a hand on Tobio’s stomach, spreading his fingers right over the steady pulse of tight, hot pleasure Tobio could feel starting to unravel there, and Tobio’s whole body went rigid and stiff before he lost control entirely. He grit his teeth to keep from crying out, holding onto Hinata’s shoulders for balance as he spilled warm and wet inside his clothes.

For a second, he didn’t move and couldn’t speak.

“Kageyama…?” Hinata asked.

Tobio leapt back, his face flushing. “What is _wrong_ with you?” he hissed furiously.

Hinata blinked up at him. “What?”

“I told you to stop!” Tobio said, then,  _“No!”_ as Hinata reached out to him again.

The sun god yanked his hand back like he’d been hit. “What’s wrong with _you?”_

“Did you drag me up here just to fuck with me?” Tobio snarled. He could feel the mess he’d made between his legs, sticky and cooling now. It made his face even hotter, made his insides crawl with shame. “Forget it. Forget you, I’m leaving.”

He turned and stormed out of the room, as fast as he could while enduring the discomfort he was in. He heard a voice behind him call out, “Kageyama, wait!” but he refused to turn or acknowledge it.

 _Stupid_ , he thought to himself once he was outside and far from the courtyard. _Stupid, stupid._ What the hell had he expected, honestly? That some god was suddenly interested in _him_ of all people? Of course not—Hinata, like all the people who worshipped the ground he walked on, saw him as a source of amusement at best. He wondered if the sun god would even let him stay the year. It was probably better if he didn’t.

He dreaded going back to the temple made of gold, but it was the only place he knew of where he had a bed, and more importantly, a place to clean up. He started in the direction he remembered coming from, when a substantial problem made itself known.

He had no idea where he was, or how to get back.

Tobio sighed. Like everything else in his life, this was just perfect.

It took him ages to find his way, at least the better part of an hour. By the time he made it back, climbing exhaustedly up the stairs, he felt disgusting. The air that had felt comfortably warm earlier in the night was now oppressively heavy against his skin. He just wanted a bath and bed.

He was nearly at his door when a loud thumping from the room next to his stopped him in his tracks. He could almost have ignored it when it came again, louder this time. He glanced around for anyone else in the hall but it was empty. Those were… Hinata’s rooms, weren’t they?

He stared at the door, wondering if he should knock, when he heard what sounded like a startled cry on the other side. Concern warred with embarrassment and still lingering anger, but the former won out.

“Hinata?”

He pushed open the door, blinking as his eyes adjusted to the soft lighting, and froze.

The light was coming from Hinata himself, the subtle glow of the god’s skin more noticeable in the dark of the room. Or—was he getting brighter? It was difficult for Tobio to tell, or really, focus at all because Hinata—Hinata was—

Hinata was flat on his back, his legs wrapped around the waist of one of his young, muscular devotees as the man buried himself deep within the small god’s luminous body. It was Hinata who had cried out before, as he was doing now, loud and uninhibited, his hands over his head and fisting in the pillows behind him. His eyes were squeezed shut but, as if sensing a new presence, they slid open, that startling gold—but instead of burning fire, they were soft and molten, clouded with pleasure.

He saw Tobio watching.

Before Tobio could make any sort of excuse or apology, Hinata’s eyes rolled back and his mouth dropped open as his hips arched off the bed, moaning his approval as he came, his body shuddering before he collapsed back in the sheets.

Tobio nearly fell over as he turned to scramble for the door, but then—

“Kageyama?” he heard a breathless voice call. Tobio froze, then turned just in time to watch as Hinata’s lover disentangled himself from the god’s body. Hinata propped himself up on one elbow, and Tobio couldn’t help but stare at the way his body moved, how the faint hint of the sun below his skin highlighted every muscle, every smooth curve of his tiny, perfect figure.

“I should have checked before entering,” Tobio said. “I’ll just—”

“Wait, please,” Hinata said, sliding off the bed, his hand outstretched. “Don’t go. I’m sorry, for before.”

Tobio backed away quickly, but the words gave him pause. “You are?”

“Of course I am,” Hinata said. “I thought you wanted—” He looked like he was at a complete loss for words as he lowered his hand regretfully. “I’m sorry I made you uncomfortable.”

So not only had he made a fool of himself, Tobio realized, but it had all been because Hinata felt _sorry_ for him. He quickly turned for the door. “It’s fine. I’m pretty tired, so…”

“Wait,” Hinata said again, taking a step forward, and Tobio had to make a conscious effort not to glance anywhere but Hinata’s face. “Did you need—can I help, with anything?” the sun god asked.

“I…”  Tobio wasn’t sure how exactly to say that he was so much of an outcast that he couldn’t even properly identify the sounds of two people fucking in the next room, so instead he said, “I don’t know how to pay off my debt.”

“Oh,” Hinata said. “Anyway you want, really. But…”

“Is this the most common?” Tobio asked. 

“Yes,” Hinata said simply.

“Great,” Tobio said. He glanced over at the (was he _sleeping?)_ figure on the bed, and realized that it was the boy who’d tried to talk to him at the feast. This irritated him immensely. “Well, I guess I have to find something else, then.”

Hinata cocked his head to the side, a gesture that was already becoming annoyingly familiar. “Why?”

Tobio felt his cheeks heat up. _Because that's not what I came here for,_ he thought. “Sorry, but I'm not interested. Anyway, my wish is _different_ , isn’t it? I can’t just go around paying you back the same way as everyone else.”

Hinata stared at the floor, fiddling with his fingers. “You can’t?”

“No!” Tobio threw up his hands. “Plus, it’s not—it’s not dignified. Or proper, for a god.”

“It isn’t?” Hinata asked, glancing at him before resuming his inspection of the floor. 

“No, it isn’t,” Tobio said sourly.

“Okay, then,” Hinata said, coming to stand in front of him, though he was careful now to keep his distance. “So, will you figure something else out and let me know?”

_“Fine.”_

“I’ll look forward to it,” Hinata said, before he broke into a wide smile. Despite his annoyance, Kageyama felt his heart pound in excitement, and frowned in response.

It was going to be a long year.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was supposed to be a one-shot. Things may have gotten out of hand. 
> 
> Rating will go up in subsequent chapters.
> 
> [I'm [@esselley](http://esselley.tumblr.com/) on Tumblr, [@Esselle_hq](https://twitter.com/Esselle_hq) on Twitter]


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two things! First: my brainstorming partner/editor [Ellessey](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Ellessey/pseuds/Ellessey) is finally on AO3!!! I and my fics would be nothing without her. Thanks so much to everyone who read the last chapter, all the kudos, comments - it really means a lot to us.
> 
> Second: Celesoran changed my life with this _amazing_ [fan art of Kageyama](http://celesoran.tumblr.com/post/141824292671/fan-art-of-toboi-from-esselles-toboi-x-hinata-sun) in his kohl and gold collar from the last chapter. It is exactly, exactly what I was picturing.
> 
> Also: a bonus, sunshiney [gif](http://celesoran.tumblr.com/post/141842696956/esselley-celesoran-fan-art-of-toboi-from) :D I'm still not over this, thank you again <3

A month passed.

It was always dark out when Tobio woke up, his eyes still heavy with sleep. He was used to waking up before the sun in the village, where he lived on the outskirts and had to walk into town for his work as a shop assistant. He was also used to getting more sleep than he did at the temple, because whether or not Tobio approved of his behavior did not seem to matter to Hinata in the slightest.

“You can move to another room,” Hinata had told him, noticing his red eyes and the constant yawning one day. The sun god, on the other hand, looked well-rested. Tobio figured that was probably because he hadn’t emerged from his room until well into the afternoon, which was unsurprising considering he had heard the noises of Hinata distinctly _not sleeping_ until the sun was nearly up the night before.

“No, I can’t,” Tobio had shot back. “I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what you’re planning to do about my wish.”

They had settled on the terms for paying off the debt.

“So, in exchange for you granting my wish—which, I’m still not convinced you can do, by the way—I’ve decided I’m going to teach you how a real god actually behaves,” Tobio had said, catching Hinata in the shade of one of the tall palm trees by one of the many picturesque pools on the grounds. Hinata was, as usual, surrounded by people, all of whom turned to stare at Tobio as he stood over them, arms crossed and frowning.

“I am a real god,” Hinata pointed out.

“I have a hard time believing that, sometimes,” Tobio said, ignoring the way Hinata’s adoring followers were starting to murmur amongst themselves.

Hinata crossed his legs, rocking back and forth in consideration. Then he grinned.

“Okay,” he said.

“Okay?” Tobio repeated. He hadn’t expected it to be that easy.

“Yeah. And also, I want you to teach me more about humans.”

Tobio blinked. “Why?”

“Sun God,” one of the girls near Hinata’s elbow said, tugging on his sleeve. “We can all help teach you about the mortal realm.”

Hinata shook his head. “No, it’s fine.” He looked slyly at Tobio, before covering his mouth and saying in a loud whisper, “He’s really weird, so it’ll be interesting to hear it from his perspective.”

“What was that?!” Tobio thundered.

“Nothing, nothing!” Hinata waved his hands, jumping easily to his feet. “Come on, Kageyama, let’s start now!”

And so Tobio became Hinata’s tutor. It was, ultimately, a little bit like the blind leading the blind. Tobio knew nothing about how a ‘real god’ might behave—something he wasn’t about to tell Hinata as he made up useless fact after useless fact. He also didn’t know very much useful information about mortals, but Hinata seemed satisfied with the assortment of mundane things he could talk about—the lessons Tobio had learned as a little boy in the orphanage, what it was like to plant and harvest crops, the sparse amount of geography Tobio knew.

Tobio wasn’t sure how this was helping to pay off his debt, but it was something to do. More importantly, it was something to do that didn’t involve Hinata’s other favorite pastime.

“Why does it bother you so much?” Hinata asked him one afternoon, when Tobio had been acting a little too irritable, too snappy with Hinata after catching him flirting with one of the other boys before they were supposed to meet up to ‘study’ (in reality, they mostly just argued back and forth about everything—Tobio’s teaching qualifications, or lack thereof; Hinata’s legitimacy as an actual god; whether or not Tobio should take up pottery).

“Why does what bother me? Your inability to pay attention?”

“No,” Hinata said. “The sex thing.”

Tobio broke into a coughing fit, sending Hinata scrambling for water, and it was awhile before he could answer.

“Besides the fact that I don’t get any sleep, ever?” he asked when he could breathe again.

“Well, I tried to solve that problem, but you’re too stubborn to listen,” Hinata said. “So?”

“It _bothers_ me because it’s all you do!” Tobio said, glaring at him. “Shouldn’t you be out, I don’t know, shining your diving presence upon the land below or kissing babies on the forehead or something?”

“Not really,” Hinata shrugged.

“And you never stop!” Tobio burst out, now on a bit of a tangent. “How much energy do you _have?”_

Hinata leaned forward, smiling. “Wanna find out?”

Tobio smashed his palm into his face, pushing him away, and the little god laughed.

“I’m the sun god,” Hinata said. “I have too _much_ energy.”

That turned out to be all too true.

“Shitty sun god,” Tobio muttered, banging his fist on the wall behind his bed. He just wanted to take a nap. The noises on the other side—the dull thudding of moving furniture, the high pitched gasps wrenching out of Hinata—immediately doubled in volume and frequency. It was the _middle of the afternoon._ He shoved a pillow over his head and thought again about finding another room, but that felt too much like admitting defeat. He tried not to listen to the way Hinata’s voice had a tendency to break when he was about to come.

“Shitty sun god,” Tobio growled, when he found Hinata lying under the tree they always met at, curled up against the side of a tall, willowy girl, who stroked Hinata’s hair and glared at Tobio as he approached.

“What?” he barked at her, voice loud enough to wake the sleeping god. She glared even harder as Hinata’s eyes opened and he blinked, the fuzzy afterglow of climax still fading from them.

“I told you he’d be mad,” Hinata whispered, and the girl giggled. Tobio’s blood boiled, not for the first or last time.

_“Shitty sun god!”_ he bellowed as he walked into his room to find, instead of blessed empty space and time to take a much needed bath, a tiny god on his hands and knees in _Tobio’s bed_ , his face buried in his arms as he was taken from behind. The hands on his hips seemed far too large and far too rough, and the way Hinata looked up when he heard Tobio's voice seemed far too desperate, far too ruined.

“Ka— _Kageyama_ —” he cried out, and Tobio wanted to tell him to _stop_ , because that was _not his bed_ , but he couldn’t—not when his name sounded like that in Hinata's mouth, whether or not it was his doing. He just stared like he had on the first night he’d walked in on a scene like this, his eyes locked with golden ones as Hinata came on his sheets, in his bed, with someone who wasn’t him—

Hinata gasped slightly as the boy behind him withdrew from his body, and asked, “What... are you doing in here?”

“This is _my room_ , dumbass,” Tobio said, teeth gritted. Hinata stared at him, then blinked around at his surroundings.

“Oh,” he said. “Oops.”

_“OOPS?”_

The other man occupying his bed leaped up and fled so fast, Tobio might have suspected he was actually a wind spirit. Hinata was slower, eyes averted.

“Sorry,” he said quietly as he brushed past, their arms touching. Tobio could feel the heat still on his skin, and he grit his teeth, saying nothing until the door was closed behind Hinata.

“Tch.” He turned to glare at the mess on his sheets, and wondered if he might become the first mortal ever to kill a god.  

The rest of the evening passed quietly enough, as Tobio trashed the sheets (considered burning them before deciding that was overkill), bathed, and even managed to try his hand at seeing whether or not he had any affinity for pottery making (he didn’t). He was almost beginning to suspect that he might have scared Hinata into giving him a full night’s sleep. He was, as usual, wrong.

Tobio hated the noises Hinata made during sex.

He had learned to recognize exactly what was happening, or about to happen, one room over by sound alone, because Hinata never made any effort whatsoever to be quiet. So Tobio knew, by the telltale laugh stuttering off into a gasp, that the sun god had just been tossed down onto the bed, probably by someone bigger, able to dominate his small frame despite the fact that it belonged to the spirit of the sun itself. Tobio grit his teeth, rolled over, and discovered the second irritating fact of the moment.

As it turned out, he was fostering something of a hard-on, and was only just now realizing it.

His errant thought from earlier came back to him very quickly, that it was… was unfair that Hinata could end up in his bed, but not with him. He could still hear the sun god, tiny, tortured groans trapped at the back of his throat, which meant he was getting sucked off—and before he could stop himself, Tobio wondered what that would be like, to be able to pin a god down by those slender hips, to…

His brain stalled out, in part because he had exactly zero experience in cock sucking, and also because he had reached a hand down to wrap his fingers around himself, which—look, there was only so long someone could go without getting off if they had to listen to everyone else around them having mind-blowing sex at all hours of the day and night. Not that he thought Hinata was actually any good at it, idiot that he was…

The noises on the other side of the wall had died down, which could only mean one thing—they weren’t done, Hinata just had his mouth otherwise occupied. He only went quiet when he had his lips wrapped around someone else, and Tobio squeezed his eyes shut at the mental image, of Hinata between someone’s legs, that fiery head bobbing up and down... Tobio’s hands in his hair as Hinata swirled his tongue around the head of his cock...

He bit his pillow, hand stroking faster when he eventually heard the velvety moans that meant Hinata had someone inside him. Hinata always sounded so relieved, so _grateful_ , like it had been weeks instead of hours, like he’d been starved and someone had finally taken pity on him.

Those were the sounds Tobio hated the most, because how _un-godlike_ could Hinata be? But then they inevitably turned into breathy, high-pitched whines that meant Hinata was close—and he was predictably noisy when he came, crying out wordlessly, trembling, shattered—and Tobio had to bite down hard on his pillow as he followed close behind, cursing himself to another round of messy sheets and angry laundering.

Then it was quiet, and Tobio could finally get some blessed fucking sleep.

_Damn Hinata_ , he thought, as exhaustion set in. This was the last straw. He was going to have to do something about the sun god’s idiotic tendencies, once and for all… and as sleep overtook him, the vague kindling of a plan started to take place.

*

“I bet you can’t go one month without getting off,” were the first words out of Tobio’s mouth when he met Hinata the next morning.

Hinata looked very confused. “Why would I want to do that?”

Tobio crossed his arms and flashed the most smug, shit-eating grin he could muster. “Because I just bet that you couldn’t.”

Hinata stared at him, then returned his grin in full force. “Whoever cracks first, loses.”

Tobio considered. “You’re on.”

This, Tobio thought, was one of the finest plans he’d ever had.

*

It quickly proved to be one of the worst plans he’d ever had.

Hinata took the challenge seriously—as it turned out, he took any challenge with Tobio very seriously, no matter what it was—and cut himself off the day Tobio issued it. Tobio slept like a baby that night.

The next morning, instead of rising before the sun on his own, it was an insistent hand on his shoulder that woke him.

“Kageyama,” a voice was saying in his ear. “Ka-ge-ya-ma!”

With a gasp, he sat up, looking wildly around himself. As his eyes adjusted, he choked and tried to roll away from the pair of large brown eyes shoved directly into his face.

“Hinata, don’t _do that!”_

“Well, you wouldn’t wake up!” Hinata said, letting go of his shoulder.

“That’s because it’s the first time I’ve gotten a full night’s sleep in a month,” Tobio told him. “Did you need something?”

“Yeah, let’s _do_ something,” Hinata said excitedly.

Tobio squinted at him. “Like what?”

“Not like _that_ ,” Hinata interjected. “I’m gonna win your stupid bet, you know. Then I’ll double your debt!”

For a moment, Tobio mouthed soundlessly. “You can’t do that!” He didn’t think there was any way Hinata could pull off going a month with no sex, but…

Hinata dissolved into laughter. “No, I wouldn’t. Your face, though…”

“Hinata!” Tobio hissed, glaring. “Why are you in my room at the crack of dawn?!”

“I’m bored,” Hinata whined, flopping onto the bed face down. “And it’s your fault,” he continued in a muffled voice. “So let’s do _something_.”

Even in the dim light of early morning, Tobio noticed he looked different. He looked… very human. He wasn't glowing at all, and when he rolled over, Tobio could see his eyes were practically brown instead of the striking amber color they always seemed to appear. Still, he was harboring some kind of energy Tobio hadn’t felt from him before. He seemed unsettled and fidgety, almost like he was in discomfort.

He propped himself up on his elbow, watching Hinata nuzzle into his sheets like an impatient puppy. He had the sudden, odd urge to reach out and ruffle his hair or stroke a hand over his body to relax him.

“Okay,” he said after a moment. Hinata sat up instantly.

“What are we gonna do?”

Tobio yawned and stretched. “I’ll explain when we’re outside.”

It was still cool outside, the early morning air just beginning to turn humid.

“Huh?” Hinata asked. “That’s it? We’re just gonna run?”

“It’s good exercise,” Tobio said, ignoring the look the god threw in his direction. Hinata may not need to exercise, but Tobio wasn’t about to get sluggish just because he was living in a god’s temple. “Besides, we’re not just going to run—we’re going to race.”

At this, Hinata’s eyes lit up. As he lined up even with Tobio, Tobio turned to face east.

“Start at first light,” he said.

“Right,” Hinata said, his tongue poking out as he stretched, sight focused on the lightening sky. Tobio glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, watching the shift and flex of the muscles under his skin, the small, lithe body. It wouldn’t be an easy race, but he could at least even the odds in his favor.

“One more thing,” Tobio began to say. “You can’t use your—”

A touch of gold appeared over the horizon. Tobio’s hair blew back in the ensuing wind as he blinked, and Hinata was gone.

“Oy! That’s CHEATING!”

When he caught up to Hinata again after making a lap around the entire temple, the little god was waiting at the finish line, grinning.

“I win.”

He looked… brighter. Maybe it was just the morning sun, which lit up his face and eyes in ways Tobio was sure it didn’t touch mortal features. His eyes seemed to have regained some of their glow. Tobio walked up to him and smacked him on the back of the head.

“Of course you won, dumbass. Next time, race normally!”

Hinata pouted.

It became a routine. Tobio grew accustomed to waking up with Hinata in his bed, small, warm hands on his body, rousing him from sleep. The first blink to open his eyes was met with a wide smile, a happy murmur of his name, Hinata tugging on him to get him up and moving. There were nights that Hinata left him at his door and he fell asleep thinking of dawn the next day, started to have vague dreams where the touches on his arms and shoulders wandered lower, lower, dreamed it was the soft brush of lips over his that woke him instead of Hinata whispering his name. The number of mornings that he had to send Hinata out of the room to wait for him while he jumped into a cold bath increased.

When he was ready, Hinata would drag him out to their starting point, and race him around the temple. They ran normally, Hinata bringing himself down to human standards, and by the time the sun was high in the sky, the young god seemed calmer, no longer restless, and the glimmers of light that rose off his skin made his presence at Tobio’s side almost soothing. They’d wander around the expansive temple for the rest of the afternoon, because Tobio still got lost trying to find his way through it all. Tobio was gradually learning the layout of all the different rooms and corridors, and the two of them would talk while they walked.

“Hey, Kageyama,” Hinata asked him when they were midway through the second week of Tobio’s challenge. “What’s an orphanage?”

Tobio scowled at him. “Why are you just asking me that _now_ , after I’ve been talking about it for weeks?”

“I don’t know,” Hinata said quickly, eyes blinking wide in an effort to stem the tall boy’s irritation. “You just always talk about it like it was a school, but sometimes it seems like you lived there?”

“It was kind of both,” Tobio said. “An orphanage is just a place where they put kids who have no parents.”

“And you just stay there until you’re old enough to leave?”

“No, stupid,” Tobio shook his head. “Most kids get taken in by other families.”

“You never told me you had another family, how was I supposed to know?” Hinata protested.

“That’s because I didn’t.” Tobio frowned and looked away. “But I was the only one.”

Hinata went silent.

“Don’t—” Tobio pointed at him, “—even try to feel bad for me, because—”

“Kageyama, did you smile the same way as a kid as you do now?” Hinata cut him off.

“What? I don’t know? Probably?”

Hinata nodded. “Okay, I think I see the problem.”

Tobio’s mouth fell open.

“Don’t hurt me,” Hinata said, before dashing down the hallway as Tobio leaped at him, fists flailing.

“Dumbass! Hinata, _dumbass!”_

Even without all the sex, Hinata still had a tendency to act like a small, annoying human, more interested in getting under Tobio’s skin than caring if Tobio did the same to him. They argued more often than not, and tended to call each other ‘idiot’, ‘stupid’, or Tobio’s favorite, ‘dumbass’, more frequently than they called each other by their real names.

Tobio wasn’t sure he’d heard anybody else call the sun god by his actual name aside from himself. He wasn’t sure why, but he’d guess from the looks tossed his way every time he yelled out Hinata’s name that it was a sign of respect more than anything else. This possibly explained why Tobio had no qualms calling him Hinata, however—every day he spent around Hinata, the easier he found he tended to forget about the whole ‘god’ thing entirely.

He wasn’t unaware of the way the other people in the temple felt about him. More than once, he had overheard conversations held in low tones when people thought he wasn’t listening:

“…don’t understand why the sun god keeps him around. He’s terrible.”

“Well, he made that stupid wish, right? So now the sun god has to grant it.”

“He’s too nice…”

“Do you think it’s his fault that the sun god isn’t… well…”

“Is on a dry spell? Yeah, definitely. That guy was obviously just jealous, because the sun god doesn’t want _him—_ ”

Tobio slammed his fist against the wall, then leaned against it, one of his trademark ‘smiles’ stretching wide across his face. He knew Hinata would have poked him in the side, exclaiming, “See! See!” if he were there, but right now he was only interested in the way the boy and girl snapped their mouths shut, staring at him with alarmed expressions.

“Wow, you guys are right,” he said, managing to smile even wider. “I’m totally jealous that Hinata never tried to sleep with me. Just like I bet you’re totally _not_ jealous that he agreed to give up sex for an entire month _for_ me— _right?”_

He didn’t actually know why Hinata had agreed to his stupid bet, but he wasn’t in a very rational mood. His words had the intended effect, either way.

_“For_ you?” the young man asked derisively. “You presume a lot.”

“So do you,” Tobio said. His fists clenched. If there was one thing that annoyed him more than anything else about Hinata, it was the way he allowed people to do whatever they wanted where he was concerned—not just to his body, but the way they acted, putting words in his mouth, putting on entire stupid festivals that were just an excuse to get fat and drunk. He hated it.

“You should stop taking advantage of him,” the pretty woman said, her features turning to the uglier side as she surveyed him.

_“I_ should?” Tobio spat. “Isn’t that all you people do?”

“We made our wish, and we pay our debt,” the man said.

“Right, which is _clearly_ not at all to your benefit,” Tobio snarled, as he recalled rough, rough hands on Hinata’s hips.

“The sun god doesn’t seem to mind it,” the man replied coolly.

Tobio opened his mouth to respond—before remembering the expression Hinata was wearing the times he’d walked in on him, the look when their eyes had met, like Hinata wanted nothing more in the world than to just let himself be taken.

He forced himself to smirk. “Keep telling yourself that.” With a wave of his hand, he turned his back on them. “Sorry, gotta go. I told Hinata I’d meet him soon.”

“He just feels bad for you, you know!” a voice called after him.

Tobio waited until he was fairly far along the corridor to kick the wall as hard as he could. This was followed by a few minutes of hopping in place and swearing, as the temple was made mostly of marble.

Hinata seemed to be in high spirits when Tobio found him, which only served to irritate him more. Naturally, Hinata didn’t notice a thing, and quickly set about putting him to work.

“Higher, Kageyama, I can’t reach—”

Tobio’s eyebrow twitched. If he was so irritable, he wondered of himself, then _why_ had he let Hinata talk him into putting him on his shoulders to try and get fruit out of a tree? There was honestly no telling.

“You can basically fly, and yet you need a boost to get up there?”

“You told me to stop doing god stuff!”

“Only when we’re trying to have a fair competition, idiot!” Tobio said in exasperation.

Hinata shifted his position, trying to reach further, resulting in him putting nearly all his weight on one of Tobio’s shoulders. The inside of his thigh brushed against Tobio’s cheek.

Tobio’s mind went blank nearly instantly. Hinata was warm everywhere, but _right there_ —the soft skin of his inner thigh was hot to the touch. He turned his head slightly and breathed in Hinata’s scent, the smoky, sweet burn of a summer bonfire, like if he touched it he may…

“Got it!” Hinata shouted, tugging with both hands.

Tobio pressed his lips to the muscle in Hinata’s thigh without thinking, his tongue darting out to taste.

Hinata gasped above him, jerking in surprise, and immediately overbalanced. The fruit snapped off the tree branch, and the sudden give was the final straw. He tightened his legs around Tobio’s head reflexively, wind-milling his arms. Tobio pitched forward in an effort to stop them from tipping over, but couldn’t control the motion as Hinata twisted, his legs still wrapped around Tobio, and they both tumbled.

They went down hard. The hard-earned piece of fruit rolled slowly out of Hinata’s grasp and fell with a sad splash into the clear pool nearby.

Tobio groaned, shaking his head to clear it. His knees and forearms felt a bit sore, but other than that, the grass had cushioned their fall.

“Kageyama…” a little voice said from underneath him.

He glanced down and sucked in a breath.

Somehow, he’d ended up on top of Hinata, who was looking up at him with wide, startled eyes, cheeks flushed and lips parted as his breath puffed gently between them. He lay with his hands by his head and Tobio’s knees on either side of his body. They were nose to nose.

“I dropped the fruit,” Hinata whispered, breath ghosting over Tobio’s cheek.

“You should have held on tighter,” Tobio responded, and _why_ was his voice hoarse?

“I should have—I’m so _hungry,_ Kageyama…” Hinata murmured, his voice hitching into a whine. He ran his little pink tongue over his lips, leaving them wet and shiny. Tobio followed the movement with his eyes, cursing Hinata for dropping the damn fruit, feeling suddenly ravenous himself.

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” Tobio chided.

Hinata’s eyes slid over his face, heated and dark with a different kind of hunger. “Because I always am.”

He shifted underneath Tobio, and then the problem—the _actual_ problem—made itself known very clearly.

The problem was that neither of them had gotten off in two weeks at that point, and now Hinata was rubbing his very obvious erection against Tobio’s hip, and if Tobio was really being honest with himself—

“You _do_ taste sweet,” he muttered, before ducking his head down to bite at Hinata’s exposed throat, but—

_“STUPID KAGEYAMA,”_ Hinata shrieked, before flinging him off, panting.

“Hinata, what the _fuck_ ,” Tobio shouted.

“You tried to cheat!” Hinata said. “You… you licked me?!”

Well, there was no denying that. “You licked _me_ the first time we met,” Tobio decided to point out. He gestured at the tree. “Just get the damn fruit yourself next time.”

Hinata groaned and pulled on his messy hair. “ _Fine.”_

As his heartbeat started to slow, finally, Tobio watched as the little god curled himself into a ball. _“What?”_ he asked in annoyance.

“It’s just _hard_ ,” Hinata complained.

Tobio snorted. “Yeah, I noticed.”

“Not _that_ ,” Hinata said. “I don’t usually—I’ve never gone this long without—” he struggled to find the words.

Tobio contemplated, thinking about how subdued he always was in the mornings, how he only gradually started to brighten up after they’d finished their run and were walking around the temple. He hadn’t seen Hinata glowing anywhere as bright as he had during… well.

“Hinata… is this really that bad for you? Is it, like…” Was it unhealthy, whatever that meant for a god? “Do you have to stop?”

“No!” Hinata said forcefully. “It’s not like it’s _fun,_ but I’m not going to collapse or anything. Besides, there is no way I’m losing to you, I’m already halfway.”

Tobio rolled his eyes. “Dumbass,” he said. If there was a tiny hint of affection to it, he was sure not to let it show.

But that night, the curses he muttered into his hand were angry and breathless, as he tried, desperately, not to give in and lose on his own bet—but there was the memory of how Hinata tasted, searing and sweet, of Hinata trapped beneath him, wanting _him._ And even if he knew it was just the two long weeks of waiting, that Hinata didn't really want him so much as he just wanted _anybody_ , Tobio had wanted to _have_ Hinata, and he would have been just as rough, just as greedy—

He groaned. All they had was a gentleman’s agreement. If he made himself come now, hard and fast with no one to see, Hinata would never know—but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Briefly, he wondered if Hinata had already given in to that particular temptation, and decided that he hadn’t. Hinata wasn’t one to lie.

Two more weeks, Tobio thought. They could get through two more weeks, and then Hinata could go back to the many lovers and Tobio could go back to jerking off alone, and things would be fine.

Of course, it only got more difficult.

Week three was an exercise in patience. After the fruit mishap the week before, things became more careful, more cautious. Hinata was clearly determined not to fall into any more precarious situations and ruin his chances, which suited Tobio perfectly fine, after his own temporary lapse in control.

So it was the little things Tobio started to notice—how Hinata eyes crinkled shut when he laughed too hard; how small his hands were; how he started to hum to himself when it was quiet for a little too long.

One morning, when it was still dark out and Hinata came to wake him as usual, Tobio simply rolled over instead of sitting up. It had been another long and sleepless night.

“Kageyama, are you still tired?” Hinata asked.

“What does it look like?” Tobio mumbled.

Hinata was quiet. Then, instead of being impatiently pulled out of bed like he’d expected, Tobio felt a weight settling in next to him, carefully. He turned to look and found that Hinata was lying down next to him, his hands curling in the sheets, watching him. He had left a very deliberate space in between their bodies.

“Okay, okay,” Tobio said, too sleepy to feel appropriately alarmed by this new turn of events. “I’ll get up.”

“Go back to sleep,” Hinata told him.

“Really?” Tobio blinked.

“Yes,” Hinata said. “I’m okay. This is fine.”

“Okay, then…”

When he woke up again, Hinata was still next to him, his eyes closed. Tobio stared at him, noticing something strange. Slowly, he stretched out his hand, until he was nearly touching Hinata’s cheek, stopping only when he was a hair’s breadth from Hinata’s skin. The faintest hint of a glow illuminated his palm. And that was… different. Hinata simply didn’t shine anymore in the mornings, not until they were up and moving about.

Tobio pulled his hand away just as Hinata’s eyelashes started to flutter, and then the sun god was sitting up, rubbing at his eyes, and complaining about how thirsty he was.

They spent the rest of the day in Tobio’s bed, eating, talking, the same as always. Except, it _wasn’t_ the same—when they were outside, or walking the halls, there was hard earth where they sat, the sound of the river and breeze through the trees, and always people milling around, eyes watching them (or watching Hinata, at least).

Here there was none of that. Here there was just a soft bed, and only the sound of Hinata’s voice and the quiet slide of cloth underneath him as he curled up or stretched languidly in the sheets. There were no eyes on them except for their own, no people watching Hinata, and Tobio found he liked that more—much more. Suddenly, Hinata’s smiles were accompanied by eye rolls, by frowns and irritation when Tobio made fun of him. His laughter was incredulous at times, and sly at others as he teased back. And there was no one around to see it but Tobio.

It was only at night that Hinata finally left. Tobio almost thought about just telling him to stay.

Week four was an exercise in frustration.

The previous week had been quiet. The last push toward the end of the month was decidedly less so.

The amount of time Tobio was spending with Hinata wasn’t something he was used to; he had never had friends before and wasn’t entirely sure he could even call Hinata that (did gods even have friends?) but it seemed— _seemed—_ as though Hinata actually enjoyed it. And despite how often Tobio got irritated with the sun god, he found he might enjoy Hinata’s company in return.

But being around Hinata alone, for so long, carried with it some interesting side effects. Whenever they _weren’t_ together, Tobio got an antsy feeling, a weird sort of itch that made him restless and even more irritable than usual, until he heard the familiar call of “Kageyamaaaa!” that was nearly always followed by an excitable Hinata running full tilt toward him.

And he hadn’t cared about it before, but now when they were together, it irritated him to have other people around, to be pushed to the side and laughed at while Hinata was coddled and held and adored.

He started to notice that ever since he and Hinata had ended up in their rather compromising position, Hinata had been more careful around him, careful not to so much as bump into him. It was a stark change, after he’d gotten used to the small god hanging off him at any and every available opportunity. Tobio had assumed it was because the weeks of abstinence were taking a toll on him, but Hinata showed none of the same caution around other people. Tobio sat scowling, picking at the grass, as Hinata laughed happy and loud with his head pillowed in someone else’s lap, hands in his hair, on his arms and stomach and legs—

He decided to test his theory one day. It was dumb, he knew, and the month was almost up but…

“Oy, Hinata,” he scowled, putting a hand on the small of Hinata’s back to keep him upright as he nearly laughed himself off the pillowed couch he was sitting on. “Watch it.”

Hinata sat bolt upright, a small gasp escaping him.

“You were going to fall,” Tobio said.

“I was not!” Hinata glared at him, his eyes bright.

“The sun god is a divine being,” one of Hinata’s admirers said, his nose high in the air. “You should treat him like one.”

“That's what I've been saying this whole—” Tobio closed his eyes. “Never mind.”

His first test proving somewhat inconclusive, he tried again the next day. They had sat down to eat their evening meal and Hinata was, as usual, talking a mile a minute to everyone within earshot. He had some of the cream from one of the many desserts on his cheek. Tobio rolled his eyes.

“No one wants to see your half-chewed food, god or not,” he said, and brushed away the cream with his thumb.

This time, the reaction was more noticeable. Hinata froze in place before shooting to his feet, plates on the table rattling.

“Why do you keep doing that?” he asked.

“Doing what?” Tobio raised an eyebrow. “You did the same thing to me when we first met—with your tongue.”

“Don’t just touch me without asking!” Hinata said, putting his hands on his hips. Now it was Tobio’s turn to stand, and he did, his height advantage letting him tower over Hinata as he felt himself getting angry.

“Are you serious?” he gestured around the table at the people sitting there, the people who touched Hinata at every opportunity, who put their hands all over him in ways far more intimate than Tobio.

“It’s—it’s rude!” Hinata said sharply. All eyes were on them, as usual—on the perfect god and the outsider.

“Fine,” Tobio said. _“Fine.”_

He grabbed a roll, some cheese, and a handful of desserts from the table.

_“Fine,”_ he repeated, because he was absolutely, totally fine.

“Kageyama—” Hinata started to say.

“I’m going for a run alone tomorrow,” Tobio told him. “Sorry if that’s _rude_.”

He left, not bothering to look behind him to catch the tail end of the comments he heard being tossed his way.

He half expected Hinata to show up in the morning as always, fumbling and apologetic, but he didn’t come. Tobio went running on his own, had a meal of lukewarm porridge and milk by himself, and then walked around the temple for most of the day—alone. He didn’t see Hinata at all that day, or the next, in fact. Even when he passed by under the trees and by the lake, Hinata wasn’t there.

When nearly three full days had passed and he still hadn’t seen Hinata, he went looking. It was the last day of their bet, a full thirty days since Tobio had proposed his challenge. His first couple of attempts to pry his location out of other people were predictably unsuccessful—not just because they didn't want to help him, but also because no one else had seen Hinata either.

Feeling something a little bit like worry pulling at his chest, he combed the temple, looking in every room, walking the grounds outside, but there was no trace of Hinata. It was only on his second time through that he realized there was one place he hadn’t looked.

Five minutes later he was pushing open the door to Hinata’s quarters. The lighting in the room was low due to the dimming of the evening sky outside.

“Hinata…?”

At first he thought the room was empty, but a slight movement in the bed and a glimpse of gold had him moving forward, until he was standing next to it, looking down at a small lump under the covers. Unceremoniously, he pulled them back.

Hinata rolled with the sheets, grabbing at them to try and hide, unsuccessfully.

“Have you been hiding here this whole time?” Tobio asked.

“No!” Hinata lied.

Tobio’s mouth twitched. He reached out to tug the pillow Hinata was using to cover his head out of his hands and paused. Now that his eyes were adjusting to the light, he could tell the sun god looked… duller than usual. It was the jewelry he never seemed to take off that had caught Tobio’s eye.

But Hinata himself wasn’t glowing. It wasn’t even the lack of luminescence under his skin, which seemed to be completely gone, that stood out. He looked pale, and his vibrant hair seemed to have faded into a rustier color, muted and dark.

“Hinata, what’s wrong?” Tobio asked.

“Nothing’s wrong,” the god murmured. “I’m just kind of tired.”

Which meant something  _was_ wrong. Hinata was never tired.

“Do you feel sick?” he asked.

“I don’t get sick.”

Without thinking, Tobio leaned all the way down to press his forehead against Hinata’s—this turned out to be useless, as Hinata still felt very, very warm, like he always did.

“I can’t tell,” Tobio muttered, as he blinked over to look directly into Hinata’s eyes to see that they had flown open in shock.

Hinata tried to sit up quickly, and their heads came together with a crack. Tobio reeled back, palm smacked to his forehead. Hinata scrambled away, out of the bed.

“What made you think that was a good idea?!” Tobio shouted, at the same time that Hinata yelled,

“Stop doing that! It’s cheating!”

_“What’s_ cheating?”

“You!” Hinata pointed. “Touching me all the time! Trying to make me lose!”

“Lose what?” Tobio spluttered, then even more incredulously: “The _bet?!”_

“What else?” Hinata asked.

“First of all,” Tobio said, advancing on him angrily, “I don’t _cheat._ Second, that’s not what this is about at all. Third, why is it only a problem when _I_ do it, but not anybody else?”

“Because you’re _you!”_ Hinata waved his arms in frustration in Tobio’s general direction.

Tobio stopped in his tracks like Hinata had hit him. “Because I’m _me,_ ” he repeated.

“Yes,” Hinata nodded intensely, like he was trying to make him understand.

“Right,” Tobio said slowly. “So all the… the hanging out and the talking and the bet—that really was just you humoring me again.”

“Yes— _no,_ ” the god shook his head. “What?”

Tobio sighed. “You don’t really want anything to do with me.” He remembered all the things he’d heard people saying about them, about him, the past few weeks. Knew deep down that they were right—Hinata was just nicer than everyone else about it, maybe because he was a god. Maybe because it was his purpose to shine a light on people, to make them feel like they could stand in the sun and just be alive without having to worry about anything else.

“What are you talking about?” Hinata asked him.

“You think I’m just an outsider, too,” Tobio said as the realization hit home. “That’s why you act different when I touch you.”

“Kageyama,” Hinata said impatiently, “try not to be stupid for once. I _did_ do all that stuff to be nice—”

Tobio felt the beating of his heart slow…

“—because we're friends. I was just doing what you said.”

…and then pick back up again. He stared.

“That was ages ago. That was before we even made the bet.”

“So?” Hinata shrugged. “You were still paying back your debt. I was just listening to your stupid advice.”

“It wasn’t stupid,” Tobio said, irritation flaring. “You’re a damn god, you should act like one.”

Hinata’s eyes flashed—just slightly—but suddenly he looked more intense, _brighter_.

“I’m a damn god and I’ll act however I want,” he said, crossing his arms with a huff.

Tobio mirrored the gesture. “And that’s all you want? To spread your legs for the first person you see every day?”

“Maybe.” Hinata glanced at him coyly. “Does it make you jealous, Kageyama?”

He yelped and dropped composure as Tobio stalked toward him, expression murderous. “At least I can control myself.”

Hinata’s back hit the wall behind them. “Maybe all that control is what makes you so annoying.”

“Shut _up_ , Hinata!” Tobio yelled, slamming his fist against the wall above Hinata’s head. Hinata didn’t so much as blink as Tobio leaned over him, caging him against the wall, furious. He was one angry outburst away from punching Hinata, god or not—he had just wasted a day searching for him, he was tired, disappointed, hungry, _horny—_ and Hinata was _still_ treating everything he did like it was one big joke. He stared down at Hinata’s blaze of hair, awaiting a response.

“It’s been a month,” Hinata said.

“Not until tomorrow, it hasn’t,” Tobio snapped.

“I’m about to go insane.” The sun god’s eyes seemed to be heated from within as he stared up at Tobio’s face. _“Kageyama.”_

_“What?”_

_“You’re_ the first person I see every day,” Hinata said, hopelessly.

… _Oh._

Tobio grabbed Hinata by the shoulders, and kissed him.

Or at least, that was what he wanted to do. Halfway to Hinata’s mouth, his thoughts caught up with him as he realized that he’d never done this. He had no idea what _to_ do. This was his first kiss.

He stood there, unable to move forward, lips nearly touching Hinata’s own (they looked so _soft)._ Eventually, Hinata’s eyes fluttered back open.

“Why did you stop?” he whispered.

“I don’t…” Tobio swallowed. “I don’t know how to…”

“You’ve never kissed anyone before?” Hinata guessed.

“How many people do you think ever wanted to kiss me?”

Hinata laughed at him, and Tobio nearly forgot the issue at hand, wanted to take his mouth right there, to finally drink in that wonderful sound. And then Hinata was reaching out to brush his fingertips over his cheeks, as he admitted,

“I’ve never kissed anyone before, either.”

With his mind clouding over at the feeling of Hinata touching him, the revelation took a moment to process. “What?”

Hinata glanced away, almost shyly. Unconsciously, Tobio leaned into him even further, a small breath of longing escaping him. He wanted this so much—so _much._ He was almost dizzy with it.

“No one’s ever _tried_ to kiss me before,” Hinata continued.

“Why?”

“Out of respect?” Hinata shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“Are you implying I don’t respect you?” Tobio asked, his voice coming out much lower than he’d intended. Hinata shivered, despite the upturned corners of his mouth.

“I don’t think that’s just implied…”

Tobio pulled back slightly. He swallowed once, hard. “I won’t kiss you. If you—if I shouldn’t.”

_“No,”_ Hinata nearly gasped, darting his gaze back as he reached out to slide his hand up Tobio’s chest, over his heart. “It’s never felt like this. I _need_ to be around mortals, but I’ve never _wanted_ one like this before.”

“...Shit,” Tobio said articulately, before crashing their lips together at last.

Hinata’s lips, like the rest of him, were hot. That single point of contact set a fire racing through Tobio’s body, made his heart skip and the blood inside him boil, and he hissed as he saw red, pulling back. For a second, he didn’t even register Hinata’s hands on his face, patting gently.

“Sorry, Kageyama, sorry,” the little god babbled. “It—you feel—I’m _trying_ to hold back—”

“Don’t,” Tobio growled. “Kiss me again.”

He lifted Hinata off the ground entirely, at this point no longer surprised at just how light a god could be. His hands gripped Hinata’s thighs firmly (and they were too soft, too supple under his fingers, begging for him to mark them all over). Hinata wrapped his legs around his waist, his arms around Tobio’s shoulders. But he didn’t kiss him again right away—instead, he raised one of his hands to Tobio’s face, brushing his slim fingers over Tobio’s forehead, his nose, his cheeks.

Everywhere Hinata touched left burning trails across Tobio’s skin, sweet and unbearable and good. He turned his head to kiss at Hinata’s fingers, to feel the heat against his lips, but the god pulled them away to thread them through Tobio’s hair.

“You’ve never done any of this before,” Hinata said. “And you made me _wait._ For _so_ long.”

His voice carried the slightest hint of a petulant reprimand. Tobio reddened. “So?”

“So, now, because you’re mine,” Hinata whispered, and Tobio silently begged his knees not to get any weaker than they already were, “I’ll show you what happens to mortals who defy their gods. I’ll try not to burn you. But it’s going to feel like this.” Hinata touched him on the back of his neck, leaving a hot handprint there. “Everywhere.”

He gasped as Tobio pushed him back against the wall with a little more force than was necessary.

“Are you saying I can’t take it?”

“No,” Hinata squeezed his legs around Tobio’s waist as Tobio tightened his grip, pulling their bodies flush together. “I’m saying you better figure out how, _fast_.”

He reeled Tobio back in, taking advantage of the mortal man attempting a comeback to push his tongue into his mouth. Tobio lost the capacity to think, let alone argue.

They didn’t know how to kiss. It was messy, with Hinata’s tongue sliding against his own, a small string of spit connecting them together when they pulled away to shift even closer. It was awkward, as Tobio bumped his nose into Hinata’s mouth at one point, and was rewarded with teeth nipping playfully at the tip as Hinata laughed at him. It hurt, when Hinata grazed his teeth over Tobio’s lips, a little too rough in his eagerness, licking his tongue over the sore spots in apology.

It was good, it was all so good.

It was only when they’d finally settled into something softer, kissing slower, that Hinata saw fit to remind him of how they’d ended up like that in the first place. He tightened his legs around Tobio’s waist, riding his hips up, and Tobio let out a noise that might have been (was definitely) a slight expression of panic against his mouth, eyes flying open.

His breath caught as he looked at Hinata, arms draped loose around his neck, hips moving slowly like he wasn’t even aware of what he was doing. His movements were like that first night, when he had danced, and Tobio had lost himself completely, just like he was about to now as he watched the way Hinata unconsciously rocked up into him, a clear sign of things to come. He ground against Tobio again, and Tobio felt his knees shake.

Hinata’s smile then was slow and inviting—but his eyes were like hot embers about to spark.

“Bring us to the bed,” he told Tobio, who obeyed instantly, carrying Hinata where he’d instructed. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could have remained standing, anyway.

He lowered Hinata to the ground where the god stood directly in front of him to slip out of his clothes, the muscles of his small torso shifting and stretching, practically asking for Tobio to touch. He kept his hands held by his side and settled for just looking, and looking. Hinata pushed down the sides of the tiny white cloth he wore to cover himself until the entire thing fell to the ground for him to step out of it. Tobio suddenly found it much harder to stare, averting his eyes now that Hinata was finally naked, and very hard, right in front of him.

“Do you want to as well?” the little god asked, surprisingly demure, small hand tugging at Tobio’s clothes.

“Yes,” he said anxiously, pushing down the cloth around his waist, and then they were both standing there in the low light, naked. Surprising neither of them, Tobio was already half-hard—and the way Hinata was looking at him, dragging his bottom lip through his teeth while his eyes raked over Tobio’s bare skin, was making him harder still.

The little god pushed Tobio down to sit on the bed and kneeled over him, knees on either side of his waist. Tobio could feel the heat radiating off of him, was almost too nervous to touch—but it was the laughter that he saw in Hinata’s brilliant amber eyes that made him forget his awkwardness.

Slowly, he leaned forward to press a kiss to Hinata’s stomach. He had barely brushed his lips to the skin when Hinata let out a very pleased noise, hands coming up to push through Tobio’s hair.

“Does that feel okay?” Tobio asked, slightly surprised himself.

“Touch me anywhere right now,” Hinata breathed, his voice eager and earnest, “and it’ll feel okay. More than okay. This is all I’ve wanted.”

He shuddered as Tobio (who was no longer anything but fully, completely hard now) obliged him, lips roaming over his stomach, tongue sliding over warm skin, dipping experimentally into Hinata’s belly button to cause a tremendous amount of squirming. He tightened his arms around the slim waist in front of him, teeth grazing over hips and hands slowly roaming down over Hinata’s small, round bottom.

The _noises_ he could pull out of Hinata. Sounds he had heard through a wall for weeks, quiet cries that had infuriated him before, now made his heart pound and his cock twitch when he was causing them, when Hinata made them all for him. And now it was his name, it was…

“Kageyama,” Hinata said, his voice a command, “take everything off me.” He ran his fingertips over the gold collar gleaming on his skin.

Tobio reached up a trembling hand to find the clasp at Hinata’s neck. It took him a few tries to undo it, and then he felt it click free for him to lift it off and set it aside. He brushed his fingers over Hinata’s skin, remembering how Hinata had touched him before, months ago when they didn't know how to just say what they wanted.

They both knew now. Hinata slid a hand into his hair, guiding his head downward, until Tobio’s lips were at his neck, his throat, and he could feel the small, pulsing hums Hinata let out at his touch.

“All of it,” Hinata prompted in a low, soft voice, and Tobio turned his attention to the gold bands around his slim arms, sliding his fingers over Hinata’s soft skin as he removed first one, then the other. He worked painstakingly slowly as he lifted Hinata’s arms to his mouth to chase the removal of the ornaments with his lips, brushing them over the inside of his elbow, his wrist, nuzzling into his palm with his cheek before kissing each of the sun god’s warm fingers in turn. He looked up when Hinata shuddered, his small body shaking where he knelt over Tobio.

“I’m—” Tobio said, his mouth a little dry. “Sorry, is that bad?”

“No,” Hinata said, shaking his head. “But you’re—you say you’ve never done this before, but you’re so—”

_Dammit._ Tobio felt his face going red. “Awkward,” he supplied, at the same time Hinata said,

_“Amazing.”_

“Huh?” Tobio asked, stunned.

Hinata stared down at him, his expression indiscernible. “Why do you touch me the way you do?”

“L-like… what?” Tobio asked shakily.

Hinata gave no verbal response. Instead, he stroked the back of one hand over Tobio’s cheek. Tobio couldn’t help it—he melted instantly into the gesture, the warmth, turning his head into it. Hinata stroked his cheek with his thumb, then his whole palm, curling his fingers into the hair at the base of Tobio’s neck and leaning in, until their lips almost touched—before he pulled away, his eyes searching. Tobio let out a whimper.

“Like that,” Hinata murmured.

“You… were touching me,” Tobio breathed, eyelids fluttering.

Hinata smiled. “I think that works out to be the same thing.”

“No, I mean—it’s _because_ you touch _me_ like that.” Tobio looked away. “It’s just, when you’re near me, it feels like you don’t… mind…?”

“Of course I don’t,” Hinata said. “Why would I? I like you.”

Tobio stared at him. The words were like a shock. It was a thought that had been bubbling beneath the surface of his consciousness, and Hinata speaking the words out loud had finally made him realize why Hinata was so different than anyone else he’d ever met, why his touches burned so hot. It wasn’t because he was a _god._

Tobio looked back at him, hoping Hinata would understand. “Everyone else always minded.”

Hinata at first looked confused, before his expression turned furious. And then his mouth was back on Tobio’s, angry and intent, teeth and tongue working to claim, to possess. He left Tobio gasping for air when he pulled away, yet still leaning forward, reaching for more.

“Stay,” Hinata said, as though there was any chance Tobio was going anywhere, at all.  

He pulled away briefly, reaching out to grab a small glass pitcher off the bedside stand. He dipped his fingers inside, and they came away shiny, slick with some kind of fragrant oil.

“Hinata—” Tobia said. “What are you—”

Hinata ran his clean hand through Tobio’s hair, his expression raw and determined. “I’m going to show you how much I _don’t mind._ I’m going to make you feel _so_ good, so—”

His voice stuttered away as he reached down, pushed his fingers—two to start—past his entrance.

“I _want_ you,” he gasped, repeating what he’d told Tobio before. “I want to feel you in me, it’s all I could think about for months.”

Tobio groaned, pressing his face back into Hinata’s stomach, breathing in his heady scent, of summer warmth and fire heat. He reached a hand down blindly, finding the pitcher of oil and getting far too much all over his hand, before awkwardly and hesitantly wrapping his fingers around Hinata’s cock.

Hinata’s hips bucked and he moaned as he sank even lower onto his fingers. He was all the way in Tobio’s lap now, sitting on his own hand and rocking against it. Tobio pumped his hand over Hinata’s cock, but the glide lacked a little too much friction with the amount of oil he’d used, so he adjusted his hand to wrap around both of them. The god tightened his grip on Tobio’s shoulder almost painfully as they both gasped at the sensation.

_“Oh…”_ Hinata sighed out, as they began to move together. “I thought about you touching me like this. About your hands on me. I thought about how deep I’d take you inside me… over and over and _over_.”

“Why didn’t you tell me this shit sooner?” Tobio panted.

“Because you ran out on me and told me you weren’t interested!” Hinata groaned, half exasperation, half ecstasy.

Right, he had done that. 

“I'm—I'm sorry I yelled at you,” Hinata continued, stumbling over the words. He seemed to be having a lot of trouble, his voice breaking off into shuddering gasps as Tobio rolled his palm over their cockheads, but he kept speaking. “But—I couldn't handle it when you touched me, because I thought I wasn't allowed to touch you back. I thought you didn't want me.”

Tobio looked up at him as he stroked his hand over them both, wondering how he could have been stupid enough to make Hinata feel that way. “The first night, when you touched me—I came all over myself. In the middle of the banquet.”

Hinata’s eyes flew wide open, and he made a choked noise as he pushed down on his fingers, his legs shaking. “From when I—”

“That’s all it took,” Tobio said, moving his free hand to Hinata’s waist to grip tight, to help Hinata match his own thrusts as they both fucked into his palm. “I was so hard for you, I wanted you so _much_ —”

“Stop, _stop_ , you're going to make me—” Hinata pulled Tobio’s hand away from them at the same time he removed his fingers from himself. He raised himself back up on his knees, hovering, biting his lip. Tobio wanted to kiss him again, wanted to kiss all of him, but instead he waited with his hands resting on Hinata’s waist.

The sun god looked down at him, arms around his neck, and Tobio wondered if he’d forgotten how to breathe at the look on his face. Because—nearly two decades into his life—he couldn’t remember a time when anybody had ever looked at him as though they wanted him around.

And now Hinata was looking at him like he never wanted Tobio to leave.

“Hey,” Hinata said softly, touching their foreheads together. “Don’t pass out. I’ve been waiting for this for too long.”

“Back at you,” Tobio said.

And then Hinata wasn't waiting anymore—he just sank down onto Tobio's cock, taking him fully in one go, and it turned out to be a very, very apt warning. The little god didn’t say anything as Tobio gasped and bit down hard on his shoulder. He just closed his eyes and held onto the dark haired boy, breath coming fast, shaking in Tobio’s arms.

Hinata had been right. The heat, the fire, was everywhere. He had never experienced anything like this before, didn’t think any amount of experience could _ever_ have prepared him for this. He knew with certainty that there could never be anything in the world like the feeling of this god of light and fire, wrapped so tightly around him that he was truly in danger of blacking out.

Tobio dragged his fingers down Hinata’s back, pressing them into his skin, felt him arch as he leaned back with his hands on Tobio’s shoulders—before Hinata started rolling his hips hard and slow, scorching him, bringing him ever closer to the point of that white hot flame.

He was burning, burning, but he never wanted it to stop.

“Ah— _ngh_ —” Hinata gasped, working to form words. “You feel so _good_ , Kageyama.” His hips rocked as he raised himself up by a few inches before dropping back down, fucking himself on Tobio’s cock, and Tobio’s vision went dark around the edges. _Shit._ “Why do you feel so good, idiot?”

He felt a small fist punch at his shoulder, and the belligerence shook him out of his delirium, a tiny bit. Through his daze, he realized Hinata was teasing him. It made Tobio want to kiss him again. “What were you expecting, d-dumbass?”

“Wow, kind of a high opinion of yourself— _ah!”_

Hinata broke off as Tobio thrust his hips upward _hard_ , his playful taunts replaced by wanton, helpless cries. And controlling the pace was somehow even better than before, Tobio found, letting him predict when each moan was going to leave Hinata’s body, watching him with his eyes closed and chest heaving, knees spread wide and back curved beautifully as he clung to Tobio, pressing their upper bodies flush together.

He was bright again, so bright Tobio could see light bleeding through the gaps in his fingers where he held onto Hinata, the golden shine turning the flush across Hinata’s stomach and shoulders and thighs a rosy gold like a sunset glow. It was beyond captivating, made it impossible to look away from him.

When Hinata began to reach a hand down to stroke himself, Tobio knocked it away, replacing it with his own. Hinata sobbed out something like approval, beginning to rock his hips to match Tobio’s own movements.

That heat surrounded him, sweltering like the hottest of summers, until he almost couldn’t withstand it any longer. He knew something within him had to break, had to give in to that fire-hot desire, no matter how long he wanted to endure it.  

“Please, please,” Tobio mumbled, staring up at Hinata in awe. He wasn’t sure who he was pleading with, or what for, but Hinata took his face in his hands and kissed him. His eyes were burning gold.

“You made a wish,” he told Tobio. “You belong to me, pray to _me_.”

“Hinata,” Tobio moaned, and now he was the desperate one, losing the rhythm of his hips as Hinata took over completely, took him deep and hot like they’d both been imagining for so long, claiming his body as his mind came undone. “Hinata, please, _Hinata._ ”

He nearly lost consciousness again as Hinata adjusted the pace, turning Tobio’s measured thrusts into quick, sharp movements. His gasping cries climbed higher, needier, until he was mewling every time he slammed back down to take Tobio’s cock. Tobio’s fingers tightened on his hips hard enough to bruise, though he didn’t know if Hinata could. His awareness narrowed to a single point, a pinprick of light, Hinata over him, around him, _everything_ to him. And—

“I’m here,” Hinata promised against his lips, in a voice that was utterly broken—and that light flared into brilliance, brighter than Tobio had ever seen it as he moaned into Hinata’s mouth. Surging heat crested through him, like nothing he’d ever felt before, taking him over as he shuddered and came inside the god of light.

Hinata gasped at the realization, clenching tight around Tobio, before Tobio felt warmth spill over his hand and Hinata’s steady rocking became erratic and shallow. And Tobio could now admit that he had always loved the sounds Hinata made far more than he’d pretended to hate them—but he sounded so much better here, as Tobio filled him until Hinata’s soft pink thighs were wet with more than just sweat, as each shudder rolling through his small body made him cry out in pure satisfaction. Tobio wrapped his arms around the god, lowering them back onto the bed to kiss Hinata again and again as he finished.

When Hinata was finally lying still in his arms, Tobio pushed a hand gently through his perpetually messy hair, smoothing it away from his face. He heard a soft exhalation, words.

“I can’t do it,” Hinata muttered softly, lips barely moving.

“Do what?” Tobio asked, confused.

Hinata turned to him, his eyes still dazed as he raised a hand to stroke Tobio’s face. Before he touched him, he shrunk away, blinking to clear his gaze. “I’m so—I’m so _sorry—”_

“Hinata, what are you talking about?” Tobio asked, alarmed to see there were tears in the sun god’s eyes. He grabbed at his hands. “Stop—look at me. What is it?”

“I can’t do it,” Hinata repeated. “I can’t—”

“Was it bad?” Tobio asked wildly. “Was I not good enough?”

“What?” Now Hinata was bewildered. “That’s not what I—”

“I can learn,” Tobio vowed. “It was my first time, I’ll get better.” _Please_ _let that be all it is_ , he thought, suddenly and utterly terrified that he’d ruined everything, that this first chance with Hinata was about to be his last.

“No, that’s not it at all,” Hinata said, shaking his head so hard his hair fluffed out around him.

“Then what is it?” Tobio asked, voice too loud, grabbing him by the shoulders. “Tell me what it is!”

“I can’t grant your wish!” Hinata yelped.

They stared at each other. Hinata was shaking, his whole body trembling.

“Oh,” Tobio said, as his violently racing heartbeat began to slow. _“Oh._ Hinata…”

“I’m—” Hinata said, his voice cutting off in a squeak of surprise when Tobio pounced on him, holding him down on the bed.

“ _Hinata_ , you idiot,” he growled, “I already _knew that_. I told you I thought it was bullshit the first time we ever met.”

“B-but—all the stuff about paying off your debt? Teaching me stuff and—” He broke off in a breathless squeal when Tobio buried his face in his stomach.

“Well,” Tobio said, when he looked up at him, “that was sort of fun. And I had no idea what I was talking about so you really haven’t learned anything, at all.”

“Kageyama!” Hinata scolded, before clapping his hands over his mouth to hide his hysterical giggles as Tobio moved up the bed over him, his eyes flashing.

“Are you seriously trying to make _me_ feel guilty?” he asked, feigning outrage, before swooping down to kiss a frantically struggling Hinata. The god melted under him instantly, mouth open and inviting, fingers finding their way into his hair like they’d always known the way.

When every last trace of worry was gone from his sunny features, when he was relaxed and radiant and smiling in Tobio’s arms, Tobio poked his cheek, scowling.

“What are you so happy about?” he asked, going for derisive and ending up soft as Hinata tugged him closer to press their foreheads together.

“Was it _bad_ ,” Hinata mocked him gently. “Are you _serious?”_

_“Quiet.”_

Hinata smiled softly. “Hey… Kageyama. I think I…”

Tobio’s heart began to pound.

Hinata grinned even wider, wriggling in his arms with pleasure. “I think I won the bet.”

Tobio slammed a pillow into his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought about adding the "Hot Sex" tag but in the end, I felt that would have been too many fire puns.
> 
> Also, there is now a non-spoilery, [very small side story](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8250406) that takes place somewhere between the end of this chapter and the end of the next :)
> 
> [[@esselley](http://esselley.tumblr.com/) on Tumblr, [@Esselle_hq](https://twitter.com/Esselle_hq) on Twitter]


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wanted to share two more awesome pieces of art!!
> 
> darkfire75 drew [festival Hinata from the opening scene](http://darkfire75.tumblr.com/post/142468070151/floating-in-the-air-still-shining-with-a-soft)! (THE GLOOOWWW)
> 
> And tyrantomega has given us what I am calling [Halo Hinata](http://tyrantomega.tumblr.com/post/142458571957/art-for-a-fic-3) \- I seriously love this, can't stop imagining it as a stained glass window with the halo behind him <3

It was possible that Tobio had been somewhat stubborn in previous months. And really, how was he to know, he was just trying to teach Hinata a lesson—but now that he could _have_ Hinata any time he liked, he had to admit he had maybe been… slightly stupid, for trying so hard to ignore what was in front of his face, to hold out. To not just give in to what they both wanted. They could have had even more time together.

Time slipped by quickly now, the days and months flying by. The first couple months had seemed interminable as they were wasted on pining after each other, but those days had _lasted._ Tobio wouldn’t trade what he had now for anything, but he couldn’t help feeling a little wistful, remembering how they had seemed to have so long to go before the year was up.

At the very least, they were determined to make up for it now. Hinata hadn’t been with anyone else since the night they had both miserably failed their bet together. The knowledge of this pleased Tobio as much as it worried him. It was almost unbelievable, to wake up every morning hot under the sheets, with Hinata pressed against him, breathing evenly and fast asleep. Tobio could watch his small chest rise and fall for hours, trailing his fingers over Hinata’s bare skin, up his sides and over his shoulders, down his back again, and repeat. And eventually, Hinata would blink his eyes open sleepily, and a smile would spread over his face like the sun coming over the horizon.

It was worrisome because Tobio was sure it couldn’t last.

He knew that it could only be a matter of time before the abundance of interest Hinata had in him eventually began to wane. Even if Hinata himself thought it wouldn’t, even if he somehow thought one mortal, a perpetually irritable, sexually inexperienced, impoverished orphan at that, could keep him captivated until the year’s end, Kageyama knew better. But whatever happened, he wasn’t going to distance himself on his own—he’d tried that once, and it hadn’t exactly gone as planned.

In the end, it didn’t matter when or why Hinata left him. Until it happened, as long as Tobio could be with him up to that point, he didn’t care.

Or so he told himself. He still got caught up in these thoughts while walking around the temple on his own, and he was so lost in them one day that he didn’t notice the nearby voices growing louder until he was just around the corner from the speakers.

“What do you mean, he’s not a ‘true follower’?”

Tobio stopped. That was Hinata.

“We don’t mean to say anything about who you choose to have by your side, Sun God,” said one of his devotees placatingly. “It’s just that some of us feel like he doesn’t always respect you the way he should.”

Hinata giggled. “Because we argue?”

“Yes!” another voice exclaimed. Hinata’s laughter subsided. “He should know his place better. None of us would ever—”

“But there is no ‘place’,” Hinata interjected. “I don’t bring people here to bow to me. I bring them here to live with me. To be with me.”

“And we _are_ with you,” said one of the men. “But he’s—he’s not like us.”

“Don’t say that!” Hinata said, and Tobio could practically hear the frown in his voice. “I brought him here myself. Stop treating him like an outsider.”

"If it's about his wish, about paying off his debt, we feel, given the circumstances, that the arrangement you had before was more than generous!"

"Plus," said a girl's voice, "the way things are now, it leaves us unable to fulfill—"

"Your debts are all paid," Hinata said. "You don't have to worry. It's enough just to have you here."

“Sun God, he’s just not _worthy_ of—” someone started to say.

“He is,” Hinata cut in, his voice tight and angry, and they fell silent. “Whatever you were about to say, _yes, he is.”_

Tobio glanced around the corner and could instantly see why no one was daring to say anything else. The little god was staring them all down, fists clenched at his sides, light and heat pouring off him in angry waves that could be felt as much as seen. Looking directly at him caused spots to swim in Tobio’s vision, and he had to avert his gaze after mere moments.

He had never heard Hinata get mad at anyone aside from him before, and even then those had been fits of shouting and name-calling, easily pacified. This was different. This anger wasn't cute or amusing.

This was fury.

A brief, breath-holding moment later, Hinata continued emphatically, “He’s not a true follower. Because I want him _next to me_ , not falling behind.”

Tobio finally stepped out from his hiding place. “Hinata,” he called calmly.

Hinata didn’t budge or look at Tobio, still glaring at the people he’d reprimanded. They stood rooted to the spot, as if unable to move.

 _“Hinata,”_ he repeated firmly, reaching out to pull on his wrist. He had to yank his hand back—his fingers stung like he'd put them too close to a flame.

The sun god whirled around, and for a second, Tobio felt that fiery stare bore holes through him. He nearly took a step back—but then Hinata’s eyes cooled and he blinked. His expression turned worried.

“Did you—hear—”

“Come with me,” Tobio said, and found that now he could touch Hinata. He wrapped his hand around a tiny wrist that was still warm but not burning, pulling as he took off in the other direction. Hinata obeyed, but not silently.

“Did I hurt you?” was the first question the sun god asked.

“No,” Tobio said, sliding his fingers from Hinata’s wrist to take his hand. The sting had faded. “It just surprised me.”

“What did you hear?”

“Enough,” Tobio said.

Hinata’s face fell. “I’m sorry.”

“What are _you_ sorry for?” Tobio scoffed.

“I brought you here—I brought all of you here,” Hinata said. “It’s my fault you have to put up with that stuff—”

Tobio stopped walking, and Hinata nearly bumped into him. “Why did you tell them to leave me alone?”

Hinata’s mouth fell open. “Because I don’t like hearing them say those things about you!”

“They’re not wrong,” Tobio shrugged. “I am weird, compared to everyone else. I’m not easy to get along with.”

“So what if you’re weird?” Hinata asked indignantly. “And we get along just fine.”

“I’m mean, and insensitive, and I don’t really worship you like they do,” Tobio pointed out. He wanted to keep pointing out all the things that were wrong about himself, all the things that would make Hinata tired of him, eventually. Because it was inevitable, wasn’t it?

“I don’t care!” Hinata said, exasperated.

“But objectively, I’m not all that likable.”

“Well, maybe I just like you _anyway!”_ Hinata shouted, angry now, just like Tobio always managed to make him. “I like _all_ of those things!”

Tobio stared at him for a long, long time. When he got the sense that Hinata was _about_ to say something else, he pulled him forward to brush his thumbs over Hinata’s cheeks, saying, _“This_ is your fault. You brought me here,” he said. “And now I like you too, stupid.”

Hinata’s eyelashes fluttered as Tobio kissed him. But they went wide when Tobio drew his head back, licking his lips. And then dropped to his knees.

“So, I’m going to worship you now—alright?” Tobio said, looking up at a very startled Hinata.

“Ka-Kageyama!” he said. “We should—I know you don’t like doing things out in the open—”

“It’s fine,” Tobio reassured him, before slowly running his hands up Hinata’s thighs, light and teasing. “I kind of want someone to see at least one reason why you put up with me.”

Hinata’s next attempt at talking melted into a startled whimper as Tobio exhaled slow and hot over the outline of his cock under his clothes. He laid his head back against the wall behind him, his breathing already coming in short, quick gasps.

“This isn’t why I put up with you,” he said.

“I said ‘one reason’,” Tobio repeated, as he pushed the short hem of Hinata’s skirt higher. “There could be others.” His hands hit completely bare hips and he looked up to meet Hinata’s gaze. The sun god was turning furiously red.

“I knew we’d be together all day today,” he said. “And I just figured… this makes it easier…”

Tobio watched him bite his bottom lip. Hinata was getting hard under his gaze without even being touched. Tobio carefully kept his hands off where he knew Hinata wanted them most, running his fingers over the soft skin on the inside of Hinata’s thighs instead, pressing his fingertips into the soft slope where the top of his legs hit his ass.

“There are lots of other reasons I put up with you,” Hinata told him adamantly, his voice strained. When Tobio breathed on him again without any cloth in the way, his hands came down to grip the dark-haired boy’s shoulders as he tilted his hips forward, hoping for contact. Tobio pushed him back by the waist.

“I like how you make me laugh,” the little god continued, his fingers tightening on Tobio’s shoulder blades as the mortal man ran his tongue high up on Hinata’s now trembling thighs. “I like how you—”

He broke off as Tobio touched a brief kiss to the side of his cock, pausing for a moment to breathe in Hinata’s smoky sweet scent, before withdrawing.

 _“Kageyama_ ,” Hinata whined, and Tobio felt a jolt of desire respond low in his belly. He didn’t let it show, just looked up at Hinata inquisitively.

“I wanted to hear what you have to say.”

Hinata groaned, straining his hips against Tobio’s hold. “I like—I like how you act mean, but you’re not. I like how you say my—my name— _ah—”_ He broke off again as Tobio slid his tongue over his cock properly, swirling it wetly over the head. “I—it makes, makes me—”

Tobio pulled off of him, lips brushing over his length, letting fall a murmured, breathy, “Hinata…”

Hinata’s knees buckled, gave out instantly, a high-pitched gasp escaping him. He used Tobio’s grip on him to stay upright, bowing his head with his eyes squeezed shut, and Tobio wanted to grin. Yes, he knew exactly what saying the sun god’s true name did to him, when Tobio had him like this. He went back to light touches, brief kisses against Hinata’s legs and hips, until he was sure he had eased him back enough from the edge.

“I’m—okay,” Hinata exhaled, then gave a soft cry when Tobio swallowed him.

“Hmm…” Tobio muttered absently. “You always taste so good…” It was true; the sun god tasted, for lack of a better word, divine. It wasn’t possible for a mortal to be so addictingly sweet, the slick from the leaking cock in his mouth nectar with a touch of something warmer underneath, like mulled wine.

Words tumbled from Hinata’s lips now like he couldn’t stop. “I like how you get all mad at stupid things. I like how you stay with me every night and how you’re the first thing I see when I rise.”

Tobio shifted his hands off Hinata’s hips, touching one to the small of his back and the other finding a firm hold on Hinata’s ass. Hinata bent lower over him, low enough for Tobio to hear his breath coming in pants. Warm hands gently wound into Tobio’s hair as he hollowed his mouth around Hinata, who began to rock his hips.

“I _really_ like how you feel in—inside me,” Hinata stuttered and Tobio hummed low around him. Hinata gasped and the gentle hands in Tobio’s hair turned rougher, tugging almost painfully. He coaxed Hinata in further, feeling Hinata’s hips moving with him as he slid his cock nearly all the way out of his mouth, turning his head to lick his way off of Hinata before pushing back down again as far as he could. Hinata practically sobbed above him.

He couldn’t match Hinata’s particular skills yet in this area, but right now—right now he was desperate to devour Hinata whole, right now all he wanted was to please the immortal, fiery creature standing over him, giving itself up to him. Hinata’s cock felt warm and heavy on his tongue, and still he wanted more. The feeling only increased as the sun god kept talking, words falling from him helplessly, and every sound made Tobio feel hotter than the last.

"I like the way you look at me when you think I'm not paying attention," Hinata said, his voice pitching to a breathy whisper. And still he kept talking, forcing the words out as though it hurt to keep them trapped inside. "You don't look at me like you want to shield your eyes."

Tobio stilled around him, then pulled away. Hinata sucked in a long, shuddering breath.

"How do I look at you?" Tobio asked him, reaching up to press his hands to Hinata's stomach, sliding them up and over his chest, arms outstretched, _worshipping_ Hinata just like he’d promised. He moved them over Hinata’s sides and down his back with slow, firm strokes, palms dragging down again, thumbs rubbing over his hips as he gazed up in awe, that he was allowed to touch, to have any of this. That all of Hinata was his. Hinata closed his eyes.

"You look at me like you found home."

Hinata kept his eyes shut tight, and for that, Tobio was glad. It meant the little god missed his expression as his mouth dropped open in surprise, before the dark haired boy pressed his face into Hinata’s stomach as his vision started to blur.

 _But I didn’t do anything,_ he thought. _You found me._

He pressed kisses into Hinata’s skin, brushing his nose and lips over his stomach and hips, and Hinata raised a hand to touch his face before moving his slim, warm fingers to Tobio’s lips. Tobio licked at them absently before Hinata gently pushed into his mouth to open it wider, and he sighed in satisfaction before swallowing Hinata’s cock again, his tongue circling the tip before pressing briefly into the slit there. Hinata nearly doubled over, his arms coming around to hug Tobio’s head, trapping Tobio so he couldn’t move or pull away.

The god of light began to fuck his mouth slow and deep, and Tobio gripped his hips, trying his best to meet the roll of Hinata’s body, feeling like he was kissing fire. He was starting to become lightheaded as he drank down more and more of Hinata’s honeyed taste, determined to give him anything, everything he wanted.

He would have made Hinata come like that, unhurried, with his mouth wet and willing; but the faint sound of voices nearby made Hinata tense up and start to pull away. Tobio caught him, holding tight to his waist. The hands in his hair pushed, light and unconvincing.

“They’ll see us,” Hinata said.

Tobio shrugged and made a noncommittal noise, adding the slightest graze of teeth when he bobbed his head, an insistent gesture that made Hinata sigh with pleasure.

“You don’t care,” he breathed, and the realization made him move his hips faster, thrusts becoming less rhythmic, unsteady.

 _Yes, I do,_ Tobio thought—because it sent a thrill up his spine, his lingering inhibitions muted by the seductive hum settling over his body and mind as he watched the god coming apart above him.

He wanted people to see. He wanted people to watch as Hinata spilled himself down his throat, wanted them to know he could make their god shake with desire using his lips and tongue and nothing else. He wanted everyone to know. Hinata, who liked all the things about him that no one else did, had found him. Hinata was his. And he wouldn’t doubt again.

The voices were louder now, they were about to turn the corner. Hinata’s hands in his hair tightened.

“I’m—” Hinata gasped. “I’m going to—”

Unable to speak, Tobio squeezed his waist, swallowing around Hinata as the god of light threw back his head and moaned in absolute bliss. There was a gasp, to their right.

Tobio opened one eye and turned the full force of his heavy-lidded glare in the direction of that gasp, tilting his head to see a group of his usual bullies standing at the corner, staring at them. His tongue pulled up and over the head of Hinata’s cock and a cry tore out of the god’s throat as he rolled his hips forward, his eyes hazy gold and mouth fallen open, gazing down at Tobio as he came.

Still slightly caught off guard, Tobio swallowed what he could before pulling back to lick Hinata’s cock clean. The hot, sweet liquid dripped over his chin, some of it falling to the pristine marble floor below.

He wiped his mouth with his hand before looking over to the group of stunned onlookers.

“Sorry,” he said unapologetically.

Hinata didn’t even glance in their direction. He was still staring at Tobio. His glowing hands stroked softly through the mortal boy’s hair, light spilling through the dark strands. Like the first rays of sunlight touching the night sky. His gaze was fire.

“I want more,” the little god told him breathlessly. “I want _you.”_

He wrapped his arms around Tobio’s neck as the mortal stood and scooped him up easily. “You can take me,” Tobio said, before glancing at their audience. “In your room.”

As they hastened past the silent group of Hinata’s devoted followers, Tobio briefly wondered if they still thought he was too different.

If this was where different got him, then he hoped so.

*

It was several hours later that Tobio was finally able to collapse against the linens on Hinata’s bed, the cloth warm from the heat of their bodies moving together, Hinata pressed against his side and warmer still. He felt boneless, speechless, senseless.

That hadn’t just been sex. That had been a…

“Thank you,” Hinata breathed against his skin for what felt like the hundredth time. They’d fallen into the sheets and he’d started immediately, sighing them against Tobio’s stomach, mouthing them over his hips, gasping them toward the ceiling as he rode Tobio into the bed, his head tipped back in sheer, unrestrained pleasure.

“Why do you keep saying that?” Tobio asked. “You don’t have to thank me for anything.”

“I do,” Hinata mumbled. He was finally worn out, voice dipping into sleepy softness. “I mean, everything you had to deal with your whole life is kind of my fault, isn’t it?”

“How do you figure that?” Tobio asked. He pushed his hand through Hinata’s unruly blaze of hair, sweeping it off his forehead to better see his face, peaceful and still for once as he started to doze off.

“Maybe if I tried to be meaner and angrier all the time, your elders wouldn’t have cared that you were always like that,” Hinata said, a small laugh escaping him.

“Idiot,” Tobio huffed, but his insult lacked heat and held only affection. “At least you don’t dislike me, even if I am mean and angry.” Hinata giggled harder, and Tobio settled for rubbing his nose over the god’s collarbone, tickling him. “And at least you didn’t abandon me.”

Hinata’s laughter subsided into quiet consideration. “Do you still wonder about your parents?” He traced his fingers slowly over Tobio’s back, the movements growing lighter and lighter as he drifted closer to sleep. “About why they did?”

“I thought we were past that,” Tobio said. It took him a long time to complete his thought, but finally, he said, “It doesn’t matter to me anymore, anyway.”

But Hinata was already breathing deeply next to him, sound asleep.

*

This was how half a year came and went, in the time mortals keep, at the sun god’s temple.

Now Tobio knew the gardens and passageways like he knew the walk into town back in his village—though admittedly, wandering the temple conjured up far, _far_ better memories than walking to work at the crack of dawn ever had.

Some days, Hinata was already out and about by the time he’d woken, but this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. On mornings like that, the day turned into an unofficial game of hide and seek. Hinata could be anywhere, but Tobio always found him eventually. 

It might be under one of the waterfalls, where he liked to stand with his eyes closed, already conveniently unclothed, his skin wet and warm. Or sometimes he would be leaning against the railing of one of the large marble balconies, watching as his sun rose, the warm breeze lifting the hair off the back of his neck. That made it so easy for Tobio to sneak up behind him and slide his arms around him, press his lips to the back of the little god’s neck, bury his face in the fiery soft strands of his hair as Hinata laughed delightedly. Or sometimes…

Sometimes he was out in the grass under a tree, like those first few months when they had just arrived, surrounded by sun followers. He looked up when Tobio approached, a smile lighting up his entire face.

“Ka-ge-ya-ma!” he sing-songed, jumping to his feet. To the crowd around him, he said, “Thank you for sitting with me!” before starting to pick his way through to Tobio. No one protested, but none of them looked pleased, either.

Tobio still wasn’t comfortable around the others yet, and Hinata knew it. The two of them would usually leave and spend the rest of the day together, which was not something either of them would ever tire of. It was easier that way.

Hinata never tried to force a connection between him and the others. The outright harassment had stopped, but not the looks, the lingering awkwardness. And he couldn’t fault them, not when he knew exactly what they were upset about. To them, he’d stolen their sun god away. Put in the same position himself, he didn’t know what he’d do.

“Why don’t we just stay here?” Tobio asked.

Hinata nearly tripped over his own feet. The rest of the group was definitely staring, but that wasn’t really new.

“Huh?” Hinata said. “You want to stay?”

Tobio rapped his knuckles on the top of Hinata’s head.

“Owww!”

“I just spent the morning looking for you,” Tobio said, flopping down under the shade of the tree. “You’re too much work, Hinata.”

“I am not!” Hinata protested, but he was already gravitating back, to Tobio and the rest, plopping himself down next to where Tobio was sprawled out. There was a bit of a hesitant silence for a second, but then Hinata’s voice was bubbling out of him again, cheerful and engaging, and the strangeness of the moment passed. Tobio had his eyes closed, couldn’t see the smile on Hinata’s face, but heard it in his voice. Fingers brushed through his hair, making him sleepy though he’d only woken up a few hours earlier. They reminded him that even if he didn’t quite belong in this group of people, he belonged next to Hinata, and that was more than enough.

When Hinata said he needed to be with mortals, there were things that entailed well outside the realm of sex. He liked sitting with others, telling stories (of which he had an inexhaustible supply), joking, talking, laughing. And Tobio knew he could do all of that just as well when it was only the two of them, but there was something nice about it when he was just _watching_ Hinata. Little things he noticed, small gestures, the way his mouth moved around words, the widening of the eyes right as he remembered something exciting—all things Tobio didn’t want to think about giving up, not just yet. They only had half their time left.

But they couldn’t spend it locked away with only each other as company, much as he wanted to. That would make it that much harder for _both_ of them when the time came for Tobio to leave. And more than that…

Through a small gap in his eyelids, he could see the group watching Hinata, hanging on his every word. These were all people who had come here with a purpose, after devoting their entire lives to the god of light. They literally worshipped the ground he walked on. Even if Tobio thought it was stifling, he was only human. Hinata wasn’t just the young man he looked—he was a god, and these were his people, and Tobio wasn’t as big an ass as the rest of them thought.

Hinata made people _happy._ It wasn’t Tobio’s place to keep that to himself. But first he would have to let Hinata see he could do that.

At first, he wasn’t sure Hinata even noticed. But it became more obvious, as they started to spend more time around others, as Tobio willingly led them towards people instead of away. Hinata’s easy acceptance of it turned to curious glances and searching looks, though he said nothing.

What was perhaps more surprising was the reaction of the rest of the temple dwellers. The first few days were almost unbearably awkward, like no one quite knew what to do with each other while he was around. Tobio nearly reconsidered his stance on the matter. After all, neither he nor Hinata owed any of these people anything.

But slowly, ever so slowly, the changes started to come.

“Oy,” someone called out, as he was walking the temple grounds, searching out Hinata before lunch time. “Kageyama!”

He turned, to see a group of boys watching him. They were in one of the recreational courtyards where several targets were lined up for archery practice and friendly competitions. It looked as though one was underway now.

“Need something?” Tobio asked as he approached, trying not to sound irritable.

“Know anything about archery?”

Archery? “Not… professionally, or anything,” Tobio shrugged. “I shoot for food, that’s it.”

“That’ll do,” one of the men said, handing him a bow. “Bow seem stiff to you? I say it’s not but there’ve been disagreements.”

Tobio turned it over in his hands. It was a well-made bow, much nicer than his self-constructed attempts that only served to put meals on his plate at home. He held out a hand for an arrow, and was given one.

Quickly, he notched it, drawing the bow back, before loosing the arrow. It flew well, straight, thudding into the center of one of the downrange targets.

“Seems alright,” he said, handing the bow back to them. They were staring.

“That was dead center,” one of them said, shaking his head. “We’re at sixty meters.”

“What do you hunt?” another demanded.

“Um… fish,” Tobio said.

_“Fish?”_

“You don’t just…” one man mimed using a fishing hook.

Tobio shook his head. “No. I don’t like waiting.”  

The man put his hand on Tobio’s shoulder. “You are either really dumb or a genius.”

“Thank you,” Tobio said.

“I tell him that all the time!” said an excitable voice—Hinata had found him.

“You never call me a genius,” Tobio said, scowling.

“Oh, right,” Hinata nodded. “That other thing, then.” Then he ran, before Tobio could realize what he’d said.

Several weeks after that momentous event, things had settled into something more natural, normal. Tobio no longer felt out of place, as long as he was sitting by Hinata’s side. He stopped wanting to flinch away when Hinata took his hand to play with his long fingers while they sat with everyone else. This may have had less to do with his own awkwardness, and more with the fact that gradually, Hinata showing him affection or attention had ceased to warrant angry glares. People were getting used to it.

Hinata had by no means given up on learning more about the current lifestyles of mortals. Mostly, he asked about recent changes over the past few (hundred) years, the differences in lifestyles between the various towns they all came from, questions that made sense for him not to know the answers.

Occasionally, there were surprises.

“I just don’t understand how it happens,” he was saying one day, around a mouthful of fruit. “Kageyama, explain again.”

“How do you not know how this works?” Tobio demanded. “A boy and a girl have sex, and then a few months later, there’s a baby. It’s not difficult.”

“A _few_ months?” Hinata asked. “It’s not the same every time?”

“Nine,” a girl supplied helpfully.

“And the boy can’t ever have the baby? Like, Kageyama’s not going to suddenly—”

 _“NO,”_ Tobio yelled into Hinata’s round, inquisitive face. “I can’t. And you can’t make babies, it doesn’t work between a human and a god or we would have noticed a lot of even smaller, more annoying sun gods running around already.”

Hinata smiled coyly. “How do you know? Maybe I’ve just got to like someone enough.”

He managed not to crack at the look on Tobio’s face for a full two seconds before bursting into laughter so enthusiastic, it sent him into a coughing fit. Tobio was unamused.

“You already knew all of this, didn’t you?” he said flatly.

 _“Clearly,”_ Hinata said, wiping the tears from his eyes.

“You little—” Tobio started to say, before there was a snort of laughter from someone else in the group. Tobio went quiet, sensing the impending mockery. He looked up, surliness creeping into his face.

“Sorry,” one of the girls said, waving a hand. “That was… sorry.” She smiled at him.

It wasn’t a mean smile. It was unsure, and apologetic, but it was genuine. It was, Tobio felt, the kind of smile that meant someone was laughing with him, as opposed to at him.

“Don’t encourage him,” he said, shoving Hinata over into the grass. Hinata squawked indignantly and—more people smiled. More people laughed.

Tobio frowned and glanced away, the back of his neck hot. He decided to ignore the way Hinata was looking at him.

It wasn’t until weeks down the line that he finally managed to pinpoint the strange feeling, to understand what was happening.

Dinners at the temple were always lively. There was always enough food, but the tables and cushions filled fast, especially those closest to wherever Hinata happened to be seated. When Kageyama jogged in, his hair still damp from a bath he’d needed after a particularly warm day, he saw quickly that there was nowhere to sit near Hinata at all—or anywhere else, for that matter.

He cursed under his breath for not having waited until after dinner to bathe. He supposed he’d just have to grab a plate and find a place to sit or stand somewhere in a corner. A bright laugh caught his attention and he glanced in Hinata’s direction—the little god hadn’t seen him come in, yet.

Tobio edged his way over to a dim corner, the flickering lamp lights not quite reaching where he stood, when he heard a voice call out, “Kageyama!”

He turned to look and saw Hinata waving at him. But he hadn’t spoken. One of the other young men near him gestured for Tobio to come closer. Confused, he picked his way across the room.

“Have my seat,” the man said, gathering his plate with half the food still on it.

“I—what?” Tobio asked. “It’s fine, don’t get up.” He glanced at Hinata. “You don’t have to ask anyone to move for me.”

Hinata tilted his head. “I didn’t.”

“You want to sit next to the sun god, right?” the man asked. He clapped Tobio on the back. “Sit down. Eat.”

He moved off, squeezing into a spot next to one of his friends. Tobio didn’t sit, he just stared, plate in hand, until Hinata finally tugged him down.

“What?” the god asked, smiling.

Tobio shook his head. “No one’s ever…” It was an odd thing to fixate on, but he’d never had anyone invite him over to sit near them, or give up their seat for him. And slowly, the thing that Hinata already seemed to know dawned on him as well.

Hinata had been his first friend, but he may not be his _only_ friend, any more. Maybe it wasn’t exactly correct to call the others “friends” yet… but it was more of a start than Tobio had ever had in his life.

Late that night, in the warm dark of Hinata’s bed—in _their_ bed—Tobio held the little god close to look at the way the silver moon muted his sunlight tones. Hinata slowly slid his hands through Tobio’s hair, his lips parted slightly in breathless adoration as his eyes traced over his mortal’s features, and Tobio could feel the warm caress of Hinata’s gaze where it slid over his bare skin.

“You seem so happy,” Hinata said quietly.

“Do I usually not?”

Hinata stopped playing with his hair long enough to give him a withering look. Tobio blinked at him.

“You’re hopeless,” Hinata told him, his voice fond. “Happier than usual.”

Tobio frowned. “Have I not seemed happy when I’m with you?”

“You have, you have!” Hinata reassured him. “Um, _very_ happy—especially when we—”

“Oy,” Tobio knocked his forehead against Hinata’s. “Behave.”

Hinata snaked an arm around his shoulders to draw him in closer. His other hand he kept threading through Tobio’s hair, before rubbing it over his cheek, thumb brushing over his lips. “It’s different. When you’re happy around other people, I mean.”

 _It’s not different_ , Tobio wanted to lie, but there was no point. He settled for pressing his face into the spot where Hinata’s shoulder curved up to meet his neck, soft and warm and perfect for hiding in.

“You don’t know what to do about it,” Hinata continued, like realization had set in.

“What _should_ I do about it?” Tobio mumbled.

Hinata laughed. “That’s the thing… it’s not a problem. You don’t have to do anything about it. You can just be happy, that’s allowed.”

“I didn’t feel like this about you,” Tobio pointed out. It felt like he’d always known what to say around Hinata, what to do (awkward moments of almost-confession aside). “It wasn’t weird.”

“That’s because there was never a question of whether or not I would like you, silly Kageyama,” Hinata said, sighing like it was obvious. “I already loved you.”

Tobio felt the heat rise in his cheeks, burying his face further into Hinata’s neck, but Hinata just shifted to accommodate the embarrassed boy in his arms, still talking like he wasn’t aware of the effect his words had.

“Do you like being around other people?” Hinata asked.

“I guess I don’t mind it,” Tobio shrugged. “I used to but… it’s okay, now.”

Hinata traced fingers over his shoulders until his muscles, tense from awkwardness and anticipation, finally relaxed. The sun god was silent for a long time, but for the quiet sighs that escaped him as Tobio nuzzled at the side of his neck, lips moving over the soft, heated skin there.

“Why did you start?” Hinata finally asked.

Tobio raised his head. “I thought that was… obvious.” He swallowed. His reasoning wasn’t something he really wanted to talk about. Or think about.

Hinata shook his head, eyes wide. “Sorry, I don’t…”

“It’ll go back to that, won’t it?” Tobio said, clearing his throat when his voice caught on the words. “Once I’m not here anymore. You have to get used to it again.” Saying the words out loud made him feel stupid. It felt presumptuous, to assume that a being as long-lived as Hinata might need some kind of adjustment period after he left.

“Oh…” Hinata whispered.

“What?” Tobio asked, his voice coming out gruffer than he’d meant it to.

“Nothing,” Hinata said quickly. “I just—I had wanted to ask you something, but…”

“Then just ask me.”

“What if you could be happy like that with someone else?” Hinata yelped. “Someone important to you?”

They stared at each other.

“What are you…?” Tobio started to ask, but—

“Your family!” Hinata blurted out.

Tobio pulled away. “What?”

“I—I was just—”

“Why even bother wondering about that?” Tobio asked. “Even if I knew who they were, they were obviously happier without me.”

“But what if—” Hinata started, then cut himself off at the look Tobio gave him.

"Ever since I can remember," Tobio said, "I've wanted to know about my family more than anything. If I can handle giving up on that, then you can handle not talking about it. You can't grant the wish anyway, so—"

“Okay, never mind!" the little god said quickly. "I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked. I was just curious.”

“Well, cut it out,” Tobio said, pinching Hinata’s nose. Hinata squealed and clapped his hands to his face, only for Tobio to pry them away to kiss it as it reddened. Hinata’s fingers lacing together behind his head kept him there as the flame-haired god caught him in a real kiss, mouth open and searching. When he finally pulled away, his golden eyes were soft, like the sun seen through clouds.

“How has it almost been a year?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” Tobio said. “Tell the sun to set slower.”

Hinata smiled, though the haze in his eyes didn’t clear. “It doesn’t work that way.”

But, oh, how Tobio wished it did.

*

The days passed too quickly after that. Three months left seemed like they had so much time, a full quarter of a year. Hinata was still loud and excitable, and his energy was so catching that it was difficult to dwell on time running out, dwindling.

But then, suddenly, two months wasn’t enough, was far too little. Even the sun god’s presence felt different, more subdued. Less like the blaze of light that came through the windows first thing in the morning, more akin to a nap in the low, late afternoon sun after a long day of work. Now Hinata would find ways to steal Tobio away at every opportunity, so they could hide like children in soft, secluded areas where they wouldn’t be disturbed. There they would trade slow kisses back and forth like they were learning new words, each other's language.

One month left, and the sun followers came together to celebrate the time they had passed at the temple, throwing feasts like the one that had brought them there in the first place. There was food and drink and dancing, and Tobio found he could join in on all of these things and not be turned away. Hinata never left his side, and in the nights if he burned a little brighter, a little hotter when they were alone, neither of them remarked on it. But those nights spent not sleeping, those were some of the sweetest yet, for all that they led to a morning that was one step closer to the end.

When there was just one week left, the revelling began to give way to a quiet kind of solace, the others' loud laughter of shared memories turning to trembling sighs and tender gestures, an understanding of time well spent, that would forever be remembered.

And then, people started to go.

The first was on the evening that began their last seven days. The telltale glow of the sun god’s presence shined bright in the banquet hall, but it came from one of the girls, not Hinata. She didn’t look surprised, but her eyes welled up as her two friends on either side of her squeezed her hands, looping their arms around her, until the light was fading, and she was fading, and at last was gone. There was no noisy weeping, just quiet tears.

Fingers intertwined with his own, warm and solid. He looked down to see Hinata gazing at the spot where the girl had disappeared. Tobio gripped back, squeezing. That night, Hinata’s arms around his neck were painfully tight as Tobio eased inside him, slow and gentle, but Tobio said nothing, wanted them tighter.

“You’ll be last,” Hinata whispered for him. “We’ll be together until the end.”

There were so many of them, so many people who had come to call this place home over the past year. Tobio’s own heart felt like it was constricted one moment, and then fighting to leap out of his chest to escape the next. And his sadness wasn’t just for himself—it was for all of them. He knew no one else there shared the same connection with Hinata that he did, but that didn’t make it any less painful for them to have to leave. Or maybe it made it more painful. He’d never know, for better or worse, because Hinata had been his.

Their numbers began to dwindle. Soon there were less people to encounter in the halls, less people to share meals with at night. With every person they watched return to where they’d come from, Tobio and Hinata held each other’s hands a little tighter, stood a little bit closer together.

And the days slipped by until there were none left.

On the last night, when it was only the two of them alone in that entire, shining temple, as the sun began to set, they stood on the bank of the never-ending river and watched it wind away into the darkening horizon.

“Are you ready?” Hinata asked, leaning against Tobio’s arm.

They both knew he wasn’t.

“Yes,” Tobio said.

Hinata wrapped both arms around him and Tobio returned the gesture, one hand resting firmly on Hinata’s back, the other winding into his beautiful hair, pressing Hinata’s face into his chest. He felt Hinata’s hands ball into fists against his skin.

Then a light was surrounding them both, familiar to him—the light of the sun god that he’d come to know so well, the gentle glow from their quiet moments intertwined together, flaring into brilliance around them. There was no leap into the air from Hinata this time, carrying him up and away—but he felt a weightlessness all the same as the light swelled.

And just when he thought, desperately, about how much he wanted to look out one last time at the river and the temple that he’d come to know so well in the end, the light was too bright for him to see anything beyond it.

And then they were gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [[@esselley](http://esselley.tumblr.com/) on Tumblr, [@Esselle_hq](https://twitter.com/Esselle_hq) on Twitter]


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Brought to tears by more fan art this week :') 
> 
> Celesoran drew the most wonderfully teasing [Sun God Hinata](http://celesoran.tumblr.com/post/142598899251/second-half-to-this-post-on-their-way-out-of-the) to match Smoky Eye Tobio(TM) from chapter two. 
> 
> And Cinnamomum gave us [this breathtaking Hinata](http://cinnamomum.tumblr.com/post/142692121660/i-was-looking-for-a-breath-of-life-a-little-touch) \- I talk about the villages having paintings of him on their buildings a couple times and this is exactly what I was seeing. 
> 
> Thank you both so much, for taking the time and effort to create these.

When the light dimmed, Tobio was grounded again. A sight he had almost forgotten filled his eyes when he opened them. But it was not the one he expected.

Instead of the bright fires of the village square, it was dark around them. The only sound was the quiet noise of moving water, as though they had never left their spot by the river. But this was a different river, the waters less clear, the bank muddier, not connected to any graceful marble steps.

“You brought me… home?” Tobio said.

 _Home,_ not to the middle of the bustling village. They were standing practically on his doorstep, the lonely little clay hut so far down the banks of the great river no one ever came out that way.

“This is better, right?” Hinata asked, sounding a little anxious. “I felt like you might not want to appear with everyone waiting for you and all the…” He made a vague gesture with his hands that made perfect sense to Tobio.

Tobio infinitely preferred landing here and not having to deal with the reaction to his return. But now that they were actually standing right at his embarrassingly humble homestead—the trench in the soil he dug for a bathroom was still visible around the side of the hut, which looked barely big enough to fit him, and the whole building looked oddly lopsided and ramshackle. He felt his cheeks going hot. It wasn’t somewhere he wanted Hinata to imagine him.

“This is where you lived?” Hinata asked. “This is your home?”

To Tobio’s shame, he sounded indignant. He mumbled something about it being only temporary, which was not true at all. He had been living there since he had left the orphanage.

“This is how they treat you?”

“Oh,” Tobio shook his head. “I, um—I wanted this. It’s easier out here. It’s… not very good craftsmanship, and I wasn’t as tall then, so that’s why the size is a bit… underestimated…”

“You built your own house?” Hinata demanded. “How old were you?”

“Fourteen…?” Tobio mumbled.

Hinata stared at him. “I’m going inside,” he announced, and marched for the door.

“Hinata, wait!” Tobio shouted, before bringing himself up short. If Hinata wanted to go inside, that meant he wasn’t leaving just yet. And the longer Tobio could keep him, the better. Hinata had paused at the door. “It’s… probably not very tidy,” Tobio said weakly.

Hinata actually laughed out loud, before pulling open the door and stepping inside. Tobio followed, ducking his head as he always did to fit through the door.

“What’s wrong with the size?” Hinata asked immediately.

Tobio looked down at the top of his head. “Probably nothing, for you.”

“Hilarious,” Hinata responded, sounding distracted rather than annoyed. He had a hand on the wall, running it over the cool clay bricks as he walked around. The whole thing was just one room, with a small bed in the corner, and a table with a single chair at the other end. Tobio cooked outside, as well. “The furniture? You made it?”

Tobio shook his head. “No—they allowed me to bring my furniture. I’m no good at woodwork anyway. So… just the house.”

“Just the house…” Hinata repeated, his voice distant.

And now it seemed like an enormous mistake, letting Hinata see this. It was ridiculous, the whole situation. There was a god in this tiny, lonesome place, the living, breathing embodiment of light, the spirit of the sun itself. It was incredible the bricks didn’t melt where Hinata touched them, not from the heat of his hand but from the sheer humiliation of even enduring contact with him. It was all ridiculous, Tobio’s stupid hut was ridiculous, Hinata being there was ridiculous.

And what if, now that Hinata had seen the indignity of where he lived, _how_ he lived, it finally made sense why no one ever wanted to be around Tobio? What if, now that he had been brought down to earth, everything about the past year, about being with Tobio, seemed ridiculous, too?

“This is how you lived…” Hinata said quietly, and it was like all Tobio’s worst fears colliding in an instant.

“Hinata,” he said, speaking fast, “you should go. You should go back. You’ve got to start preparing for next week—”

But he got no further before there were arms rising to hold him, hands reaching for him, clinging to him. He stood frozen.

“You want me to leave?” Hinata whispered. “Why?”

“I don’t want you to see this,” Tobio said, choking on the words, too desperate to lie. His eyes were wet, but whether they were tears of sadness or humiliation, he didn’t know. Probably both. “I don’t want you to remember me as this person.”

 _“What_ person?” Hinata asked, utterly confused.

“This—this pathetic, lonely, angry—the person I was before I met you!” Tobio burst out.

“Stop.” Hinata grabbed his face firmly. “I _never_ saw you as any of those things. I never will.”

Tobio blinked at him. “What?”

Hinata brushed away the tears he hadn’t even realized had already fallen. “This place isn’t pathetic, or lonely, or angry. It’s _yours_. If you built this, then I love it."

It was like Tobio could feel his heart being pulled out of him. He closed his hands over Hinata’s small forearms.

"Please don’t tell me to go," the sun god said. "Because I don’t want to leave it.”

 _Then stay_ , Tobio almost said, swallowing the words just in time. Hinata couldn’t stay. The sun had to rise and set for the entire world, not just for Tobio.

“You aren’t two different people,” Hinata continued. “There isn’t a ‘before’ Kageyama and an ‘after’ Kageyama. There’s just you. There’s just you, and I love _you._ ”

Tobio’s mouth was on Hinata's before he even realized he was moving, that ever-present rush of adoration and longing and always, _always_ love overtaking him like it did every time Hinata reminded him that by some miracle his feelings were returned, that Hinata felt the same way about him that he felt about this being of literal light and sun.

Somehow, Hinata loved him as much as he loved Hinata.  

The little god made a small noise into his mouth, not surprise, possibly exasperation, the non-verbal equivalent of _do you get it now, dumbass_.

Tobio did.

Hinata walked him backwards, backwards, until their legs hit the edge of the bed, and then Tobio found himself being pushed down onto his back, the ever mesmerizing sight of Hinata slowly undressing before climbing on top of him taking his breath away as he moved up Tobio’s body, golden eyes fixed on his own.

“I have to tell you something,” Hinata said, eyes flicking down, biting his lip. He looked so good that Tobio almost had to wonder if he was imagining this—staring up at Hinata there above him, naked and incandescent, in his tiny bed in his too small house.

“What is it?” he asked.

“I brought you here because I wanted to do something for you,” Hinata said, gaze coming back up to meet his. His eyes were so bright.

Tobio reached for him, cupping Hinata’s adorably round, soft cheeks with his hands, and Hinata leaned into his touch, his sunlight eyes fluttering closed for a brief moment before the glimmer under his lids was back, coy now, peeking out like the first rays of sun in the morning.

“What did you want?” Tobio prompted him, his voice coming out hoarse.

“I wanted to see where you lived,” Hinata told him, moving up closer. Tobio’s eyes were suddenly redirected to his mouth, focusing in as Hinata swiped his tongue over inviting lips, which Tobio knew would be burning by now, aching to kiss, to be kissed.

“That’s it?” Tobio asked. No—he knew it wasn’t. He knew Hinata well enough now to tell when he was building up to something.

And Hinata shook his head. “I wanted to have you here. In your home. In your bed.”

“Oh…” Tobio said, the word coming out as a drawn out sigh, a quiet moan of understanding boiling over into pleasure. Hinata wanted him _here_. Not just amid all the luxury of the temple. He wanted him here, where he had grown up, in the bed he had brought over as one of his few belongings from his quiet, friendless childhood. Hinata wanted all of him.

“Kageyama,” Hinata breathed, dipping his head so their lips were nearly touching. “I’m going to take you, now.”

Before Tobio could respond—to nod, to beg for it even if he didn’t have to—Hinata was on him. And everything was at once just the same and yet all so different than every time before it.

Hinata’s skin was hot, like it always was—but it wasn’t the flushed warmth Tobio was used to feeling. His touch was intense, scorching, the lightest brush making Tobio gasp, making his muscles twitch and body react in a way he knew it shouldn’t this early, this soon. A single, slender finger trailed up his side and he was moaning, feeling the line traced against his skin ignite like a tongue of fire.

He was dimly aware of the fact that he was already achingly hard, but Hinata’s touch pushed even that to the back of his mind, until all of him was desire, all was need. Hinata gazed down at him with those terrifyingly intoxicating eyes, before pressing just the fingertips of his other hand to the center of Tobio’s chest, running them slowly down his torso, his stomach. Five lines of red scored over Tobio’s skin before fading as quickly as they’d appeared, and the pain-pleasure of the sensation set his mind reeling, had him pushing into every touch, every slight movement Hinata made, desperate for more, to find out how hot that fire blazed.

“Does it burn?” Hinata asked.

Tobio nodded unsteadily, his hips rolling automatically at the sound of Hinata’s voice, sweet like warmed honey. “Yes,” he panted. “Don’t stop.”

The sun god’s eyes darkened, and in them Tobio saw an unfamiliar creature who would take whatever it wanted, who it was impossible to deny.

“People worship me,” Hinata whispered, low like the hiss of wood-burning fire. “But there are… no words for the things I want to do to your body.” He kissed over Tobio’s hips, hands on the bed on either side of the mortal man’s body, as if sensing that more than one touch, one more point of contact, would utterly finish something so human and fragile. He pressed his mouth to Tobio's stomach, ran his hot tongue over his chest. When those heated lips closed over one of Tobio’s nipples, sucking and licking, Tobio opened willingly, desperately, spreading his thighs apart to make it easier for Hinata to slide between them as he layered kiss after kiss over his whole body.  

Hinata finally paused above him, arms on either side of his head, looking down at him. Tobio could only stare at him in wonder—Hinata was beautiful. He was always beautiful. But he had never looked like this before, like light given shape, fire under his skin, all his magnitudes of power held back only by the force of his own will. He leaned in close and murmured, soft, like a secret: _"Tobio."_

Tobio shuddered, and his desire threatened to overwhelm him, and then Hinata’s mouth was on his, possessive, branding him, and—

He twisted his hands in the threadbare sheet, legs trembling and shaking as light burst behind his eyelids. It felt like flames were sweeping over his whole body as his climax ripped through him, and he came wet and hot over his thighs with a strangled cry. For a minute, he was blinded, gasping for air, his face wet with sweat and tears. _What had just happened?_

Warm hands caressed his cheeks as Hinata’s face slowly swam into view.

“I know. It’s a lot,” Hinata said, his voice tight, like watching Tobio lose control had made it that much harder to keep himself in check. “Do you need to rest?”

“No,” Tobio gasped, reaching out to him. Hinata leaned away from his frantic swipe, but ran those blessed fingers over his trembling arm. Even in the afterglow of his climax, the simple gesture made his cock twitch. Hinata touched his lips to the inside of Tobio’s elbow, following up with a swipe of his wet tongue, and Tobio writhed on the bed, not caring what he looked like, what he sounded like. “More—need—”

“I will,” Hinata told him. “I should have just touched you like this before now—you’re not used to it.”

“You _were—_ ” Tobio managed to choke out, “—holding back.”

“Mmm,” Hinata hummed, sending shivers racing up Tobio’s spine. “Stay still for a second.”

He curled his hand into the front of the cloth wrapped around Tobio’s waist and it simply began to burn away, like a paper held to a candle flame. Somehow, the flames licking up to his waist, dissolving the cloth before his eyes, didn’t burn his skin—and when he was entirely naked, Hinata climbed over him until he could tilt his head to brush his lips over Tobio’s temple, his forehead. Down his nose and over the tip, and Tobio flicked his tongue out to run it over warm lips that made him lightheaded to taste—and though it wasn’t quite as mind-numbing as before, he could already feel his stomach clenching, the tension there growing.

“I can take it,” he breathed into Hinata’s mouth. “I _want_ it, so don’t—”

“I won’t,” Hinata promised. He raised his hand, fingers hovering by the mortal man’s face. “I’m going to give you _everything_.”

His finger brushed Tobio’s cheek, and everything was suddenly light, and heat.

Tobio felt his back arch off the bed, heard his sobbing voice burst from his own lips, but it was like another person was reacting, was breaking for the god above him. The feeling of Hinata near him, touching him, was too much to comprehend. One finger on his cheek became a hand stroking his face, curling into his hair, smoothing down the sloping line of his neck and entire back to guide his hips up slightly, and then—and _then_ , there was the hot press of fingers, brushing against him, circling his entrance—

"Yes—" Tobio choked. "I  _need_ you there—" His voice broke off as Hinata pushed slick fingers into him—he brought the _oil_ with him—and rubbed inside him, stretching him, and it was like he was burning up from the inside, the heat blossoming low in his stomach making him push down, grinding onto Hinata’s fingers, head thrown back in pleasure.

It wasn’t their first time like this. It was not the first time Tobio had felt Hinata inside him. But it was the first time Hinata had ever let him feel the true heights of divinity, when the very air the sun god breathed made his head spin with his arousal, when just the knowledge that Hinata was inside him made him want to surrender himself completely, again and again.

“You’re doing so good,” Hinata said, sounding slightly awed. “I’ve never let anyone take me like this before. I was worried it would be too much for you.”

It was, and it wasn’t. Tobio refused to believe that this tiny, slight thing in his bed could ever be _too much_ for him. He only ever wanted more. But—

“Hinata—” he gasped, feeling the inevitable building in his chest, his belly, in his fucking thighs. “I’m going to—I’m—”

“I know,” Hinata told him. “You’re going to do a lot of that tonight.”

 _“Yes—”_ was all Tobio got out before he was coming a second time, throwing an arm over his face as his release washed over him in long, slow waves, his hips rocking up, Hinata’s fingers still curling inside him, drawing every last ounce of it from him until he could collapse into the sheets again. And still…

Hinata withdrew his fingers, and Tobio struggled, pushing his hips down in protest at the loss of contact. The sun god brushed warm lips along his jaw before shifting to kiss the dark-haired mortal—his taste, wine and honey, made Tobio’s mind swim with longing. It left him just barely coherent enough to understand _what_ it was he wanted, instead of just the hazy concept of _wanting_.

“What are you _doing_ to me?” he asked, and if there was reverence in his tone, he thought it was fair to blame it on the fact that he’d just had an out of body experience thanks to the tiny, fire-haired immortal in his bed. Hinata’s laugh whispering over his oversensitive skin made his toes curl in delight.

“You always said I should act like a real god,” Hinata reminded him, sitting up. He gripped Tobio’s hips suddenly, pulling him down the bed into his lap until their hips were fit snug together. Tobio groaned. There was so much _heat_ on his skin, small, firm hands on his waist, the tops of Hinata’s thighs against the back of his. Hinata dragged one hand over Tobio’s stomach through the wet, slippery mess there before mixing it with the oil to coat over his own cock.

“Fuck, Hinata, _fuck_ —” Tobio gasped, slamming his head back against the pillows.

“A god makes you worship. Makes you beg.” The sun god folded over him until their bodies were pressed together, breaths rising and falling as one. Tobio could feel Hinata’s steady heartbeat against the rapid pounding of his own. A hot voice murmured near his ear, “A real god gives you rapture.”

The feeling, when Hinata finally pushed his cock deep inside of Tobio, slick with Tobio’s own cum, was exactly that. He could feel _—everything._ He was burning from the inside out. Nothing could ever touch that sensation—Hinata had claimed him utterly, and nothing would ever, ever give him pleasure like this again, save for an echo of it, perhaps, when the hot touch of the sun kissed his naked skin on an especially scorching day. Then he might remember the feeling of Hinata filling him, of taking the sun spirit inside of himself, of being allowed to experience the mind numbing bliss.

 _“Thank you,”_ he tried to say, but wasn’t sure he managed to form actual words before he felt Hinata shiver, felt him ease all the way in until they were nothing but skin on skin. Tobio’s voice tore out of him in a helpless cry, and he came dry as Hinata held him.

“Are you—” Hinata whispered, his voice hoarse, and Tobio shook his head, eyes screwed shut. He didn’t _want_ any more holding back. He pounded on Hinata’s shoulders with his fists as hard as he could, but he was still reeling from the force of his most recent climax. They were getting _stronger_ every time they shook his body apart, and each one felt impossibly, incredibly better than the last.

“Don’t stop,” he begged, just like Hinata had told him he would. “Do _not_ stop, _please_ , I need more, I _need_ you—” Were his words presumptuous? This _could_ be enough, this could be all he ever needed, Hinata, in him, like this—but then Hinata spoke, his voice clear and even again.

“I said I wanted to do something _for you_.”

 _What more can you do?_ Tobio would have asked, if he still had the ability to speak. _I’m ruined, I’ll never want anything but you again._

“I thought about being with you like this for a long time,” Hinata admitted. His entire body was taut with the effort of keeping still. “But you see what it does to you. I couldn’t let you feel this and then leave you here with nothing. But it’s okay now because—I can give you something better.”

“There isn’t—” Tobio managed to say. “—nothing better—”

“Yes, there is,” Hinata said gently. “I’m going to grant your wish.”

Tobio stared at him, uncomprehending. It was so hard to focus on anything, but… “What?”

Hinata smiled. “What, did you really think I couldn’t? Give me a little credit. I am a god, after all.”

“But—you said—” Tobio started, tried to say.

Then Hinata moved in him, and like first light on a new day, the world seemed to begin anew.

 **“Hold on to me,”** Hinata said, and his voice was unlike anything Tobio had ever heard. Still with all of his sweetness, but unwavering, unable to be refused. Tobio tried to raise his arms and when they shook too much, Hinata helped, one hand between his shoulder blades as the other helped guide him to loop them around his neck. Once Tobio’s arms were around him, he braced his hands against the bed.  

The sun god pulled out until only the head of his cock was inside Tobio, catching at his entrance, before sliding all the way back in, smooth and slow. Tobio moaned, his voice breaking, eyes screwed shut as tears ran down his face at the feeling of Hinata driving hard and deep within him, that incredible heat settling into his bones, almost too much to bear.

 **“Look at me,”** came the command, and so he did, dragging his eyes open to gaze at Hinata. Tobio sucked in a breath.

Those golden irises weren’t fiery embers now—they burned like the sun Hinata was, twin circles of flame, light bleeding through lids when Hinata’s eyes slid closed the next time he rolled his hips, pushing up and into Tobio. A gasp fell from his mouth, as his control over himself began to waver. Then they were blinking open again, burning into Tobio’s own, terrible yet wonderful. Tobio wanted to look away, but couldn’t, and wouldn’t have, not for the world.

 **“Do you understand?”** Hinata asked him. **“Your wish is the first and only one I’ll ever grant. You know why.”**

“No,” Tobio gasped. “No, I don’t.” He knew what he _hoped_. But there was no chance, there was no way anybody had ever deserved what Hinata was giving him.

 **“You** **_know_ ** **why.”**

Tobio closed his eyes. He couldn’t bear to say the next words out loud, not to Hinata, not to the perfect being that moved inside him, that drew him like a moth to the brightest flame that would ever exist.

“I’m the first,” Tobio whispered.

 **“You are,”** Hinata said. He ducked his head down to kiss Tobio's burning skin, over his collarbone, fluttering brushes of heat that were still no distraction to the way Hinata was rocking deep within him, the way his hips, slender and hot, slapped against Tobio’s skin each time he buried himself inside the mortal man. He hitched Tobio’s body up further and the shift in angle was enough that he could finally thrust home, his cock brushing against the spot that made Tobio’s vision fuzz white until all he could see was hazy, muted light from Hinata’s shining skin, nothing else.

**“Tobio. Tell me what you are.”**

“I’m the first,” Tobio moaned out at the invocation of his name, able to say the words because they were true, Hinata was right, he _knew_. And it was too much, it was more than enough— “And the only one.”

 **“The first and only one I’ll ever love,”** Hinata repeated. **“And for that, I’ll give you everything.”**

He drove himself into Tobio again and again, rocking his whole body up on the bed, and Tobio choked back a sob as he felt himself ignite, burn up, touch the sun. Hinata tipped his head back, arms shaking to keep himself upright as he gasped. And then, with a low moan, he sank down as he spilled himself deep inside of Tobio, filling him with the scorching heat of a god uninhibited, rutting inside of the mortal with shallow, desperate thrusts as his orgasm took him over.

And at the feeling of Hinata, the molten heat flooding his insides, dripping out of him around his god of light and over them both where they were joined together, Tobio could do nothing but surrender himself for the fourth time that night and find his own release, soundless and spent and utterly overcome as they finished together, clinging desperately to one another, no longer god and mortal but something much closer. Much more the same.

Hinata pulled away from him gently to ease him back against the sheets and lay down next to him. And then suddenly—still coming down from the wonder, the realization of what the two of them had become and what he meant to his first friend, his only love, a true god despite appearances—Tobio _remembered._

 

_The first light of dawn_

_The village still sleeping_

_The young girl with torn clothing and bare, bruised feet_

_Her shaking shoulders as she placed her baby on the sun throne_

_The tall boy, skin and bones, who stroked her hair_

_Their fingers intertwined as they walked away_

_Their grief._

 

Tobio’s heart pounded and burned. “What—”

Hands on his face made him jump, and then he was looking into Hinata’s eyes—still intense, but back to their normal soft gold.

“You saw them?” the sun god asked.

“Them?” Tobio asked. _“Them?_ That was—”

“Your family,” Hinata finished for him. “Yes.”

Tobio grabbed Hinata’s hands in his own. “That was my mom. My dad?”

“I can’t see what you’ve seen,” Hinata smiled faintly. “I wish I could see them too, but I can’t…”

“It was them,” Tobio said, now with conviction. “I couldn’t see their faces but—it was _them_.” He blinked at Hinata. “They… they put me on your throne. The seat of the sun. They…”

Hinata looked amazed, excited. “Gave you to me. They were good parents.”

Tobio’s eyes widened. “Is… is that why? Why you love—”

The sun god shook his head. “No. No matter who you were, or where you came from, I would have loved you. The two of us were nothing special.” Then he smiled, like he was remembering every little detail, everything the two of them had become. He gripped Tobio’s hands tightly in his own. “Until we were.”

That wasn’t quite right, Tobio thought. Hinata was a miracle. It was _he_ that was nothing special. Tobio had been an ordinary little boy who grew up to be an ordinary man—to everyone but Hinata. And despite being ordinary, Hinata had given him the world and all he’d ever wanted, had shown him the answer to the one question he'd had all his life. His eyes felt wet and hot again.

“Are you okay?” Hinata asked him.

“I…” Tobio swallowed hard. “They didn’t—they didn’t abandon me. They didn’t hate me.”

“Of course they didn’t,” Hinata asked fiercely. “I knew it.”

“Is that why you did this?” Tobio asked him.

Hinata hesitated. “I told you why I did it.”

“But?” Tobio asked, scooting closer to him until their noses were almost touching.

“But,” Hinata said, looking carefully anywhere but into his eyes, “my reasons for wanting to be with you were a little more…”

“Just tell me what they were, idiot,” Tobio said, huffing a laugh through his nose.

Hinata’s gaze slid up to meet his. “It was so you’d always remember me. Know we weren’t a dream.”

Tobio blinked at him. He reached out, pulling Hinata to his chest, tangling their fingers together like he had just seen his parents do. They’d been leaving behind something precious to them, too. The thought made him giddy with happiness, even while he tried to stave off the knowledge of what would be gone when he woke the next morning.

“Will I see you again?” he asked quietly.

Hinata nuzzled closer to his chest, hair tickling the bottom of his chin. “You will. But… I don’t know how long that will take.”

Thoughts, arguments, bubbled to the surface of his mind, but instead of voicing them as he usually would, Tobio just nodded. “Okay. I’ll wait.”

“No, you won’t,” Hinata said, pulling back to look at him. “Why do you think I granted your wish? For you to stay in this place?”

“What else would I…?”

“Kageyama,” Hinata said, very seriously. “The people you saw. Think about them for a second.”

Confused, Tobio obeyed. He hadn’t seen their faces but… if he thought about them, the sensation was strange. He knew, with a distinct certainty, that they were not there. Or rather, they were not _near._ And if he thought about it _harder_ …

“I… I know where they are,” he said slowly, shocked. “Or not where they are, exactly but—I feel like I could get there? If I went looking?”

Hinata smirked at him a bit, seeming proud. “Yeah. So… maybe you should get looking.”

Tobio gaped at him, before swooping down to kiss him hard. Hinata gave a tiny yelp of surprise into his mouth, one that morphed into a giggle.

“Thank you,” Tobio said, feeling as though the words were wildly insufficient. Of course they were. There was no way to repay this sort of thing. But…

“You don’t have to thank me. Just—” Hinata inhaled deeply. “Promise me. Promise me you’ll remember me.”

“I promise,” Tobio said, then shook his head. “How could I forget?”

Now it was Hinata’s turn to tangle a hand in his hair, and kiss him slow and deep. “I think I’d still like to give you a few more things to remember me by.”

And Tobio would not, would never, argue against that.

*

He didn’t know when he’d fallen asleep. Somehow, the morning came, and he woke in a hard bed under sheets that were scratchy and too thin, reaching out an arm to feel warmth at his side and instead finding nothing.

He opened his eyes. The clay walls on all sides of him seemed more suffocating and drab than they had ever been, after sunlight had illuminated them in the quiet space of the night, though it was not its turn to shine. But that light was gone.

Hinata was gone.

Tobio rolled over, curling in on his side as though making himself smaller could lessen the pang of loneliness, the encroaching sadness. He had known it would hurt. He’d told himself it would, to prepare for it. It hadn’t helped.

It seemed finding out what it was to _not_ be alone only made returning to it that much worse.

For a moment, he lay there, eyes shut tight against the realization. What was he even supposed to do now? People who returned to the village from the sun god’s temple tended to live easy lives, their service to their people provided. But he doubted that would be the case with him—he’d broken tradition, he hadn’t even made a proper—

His eyes sprang open as he sat up. What was he doing, lying there, moping around? His _wish—_ the wish Hinata had granted for him, the knowledge he’d been given. Now that he’d thought of it, he realized he could still feel it, lingering around his heart. Like he was being held close by warm, lean arms with a strength that never failed to surprise him when they wrapped around his chest. A faint smile tugged at his lips. He could almost hear a teasing voice in his ear. _‘You really should smile more.’_

An hour later, he was out his front door, most of his belongings slung across his back as he started off, following the river upstream.

And so, he traveled. It did not seem like the journey would be short, but instead the opposite. He didn’t know where he was going—only that he knew which ways _not_ to go, though he couldn’t explain how that worked either. If he strayed too far from the correct path, there was just a feeling that tugged at him as if to say _not that way… not that road._

The dry land that encroached on the banks of the river in the areas surrounding his village became more fertile, more green. And then his guided senses seemed to finally lead him away from the river, where the desert was no longer as harsh and his supply of water wasn’t in danger if he wandered too far. He turned his back on the river he was used to, and found himself in a lively, hilly country, so unlike the flat sands of his home.

Each day, he woke up in time to watch the sunrise, with a fond feeling in his chest, a tightness that never seemed to ease. This was the only way he remembered to count the passing days, and it was with a sense of surprise that he came upon a small town that bore the mark of the sun upon some of its storefronts and homes and realized the Festival of Lights must have already passed some weeks ago. It was just one of many towns that he had stopped in along his walk, but it was the first that worshipped the sun god.

The people of the town were as lively and cheerful as Tobio had come to expect of the sun god’s followers, and the lodgings he stayed in that night boasted a loud and comfortable commons. It made him feel such an overwhelming sense of nostalgia that he surprised himself by sliding into a seat at an empty table in a far corner, just so he could watch the people laugh and dance. The Festival lights may have come down, but that didn’t make the people any less jovial. A glass of wine did not feel so inappropriate, in that bright space.

“Here you go, boy,” said the friendly barmaid as she slid his glass over to him. “Anything else for you?”

He must look odd, with his single small glass of sweet wine, while everyone else’s mugs were overflowing with beer. “No—” he started to say, but then, “—ah, yes. Um, just a question, how was your Festival this past year?”

“Did you miss it?” she asked. “It was one of the most beautiful we’ve had that I can remember.”

“That’s good,” Tobio said, feeling glad. After a moment's hesitation, he continued. “What about—your wish speaker?”

What did he even want to ask? Where they happy? Of course they were. Were they prepared? They’d have prepared their whole lives. What was their wish? He almost laughed at that—there was only ever one wish spoken.

The woman cocked her head. “Come again?”

“Your wish speaker…” Tobio shook his head. “Never mind, it’s nothing. I just wondered…”

“You’ll have to be a bit clearer,” the woman said, scratching at her chin. “Not sure what you mean by ‘wish speaker’.”

Tobio tilted his head. Odd. Maybe they didn’t call them that around here—but it seemed like a rather self-explanatory term.

“The person who asks the sun god to grant their wish… and then they go up, well, not _up_ , I guess, but they go to wherever it is his temple is…”

The woman was looking at him with much confusion. “Sorry? I haven't ever heard of that happening.”

“You haven't?” Tobio asked, bewildered. That couldn't be right... this was something all the sun villages did—they believed the wish to be essential, after all, the entire point of the ceremony.

The woman shrugged. “No… going to see the sun god’s temple itself, that would be something, wouldn’t it?”

Tobio frowned at his reflection in his glass. “Yeah… yeah, it would.”

That night, as he lay in a net cot in one of the large rooms, listening to the sounds of others’ snoring around him, he tried to remember the words of the wish, the proper words.

 _“We wish for the sun,”_ he murmured, and stopped, wracking his brain. _“We wish…_ _for the sun to…_ shine?” What was it? He’d never been that invested, no, but he still had the words memorized since he was old enough to talk. How was it he’d forgotten them? And why had this village ignored the wish?

He turned over in bed restlessly, mulling it over, trying to remember the words… and before he knew it, he’d fallen asleep.

His journey took him through the hills and nearer to the mountains, up quiet paths with meadows of flowers blooming on all sides, over bridges that spanned valleys with rushing rivers far below, past gardens with orchards of trees that dropped fruit on the ground so he could chase off the hunger that came with the long, long walk.

It was in one of these orchards that he first realized how things had changed, were changing.

There was a wooden step ladder leaned against one of the trees, and he had the sudden idea—an idea that seemed very unlike him—that he could climb up it, in an instant, and pluck the still ripening fruit right from the branches, instead of settling for the overripe offerings on the ground. It would only be that once, and no one would miss just one piece of fruit amidst all the many, many trees.

Quickly, he set up the ladder and scurried up it—but when he was right at the top, reaching for that elusive sweetness, a strong gust of wind blew, unsettling the ladder and him with it. He snatched wildly, feeling the _snap_ of a branch as he snagged the fruit, but the next second he was toppling over, completely overbalanced. He sprawled on the ground, the fruit rolled away from him, and there he lay, winded.

A flash of a memory came to him, then. He blinked. It was… pink lips, soft, parted from a quiet gasp having just left them. Pale skin, warm, with the barest flush. Hair the color of a bright flame.

And eyes, golden eyes, wide and surprised and staring at him.

Tobio clenched his fist against his chest as an ache filled him. This was…

“Hinata?” he whispered.

Why? Why was he remembering this now?

At the corner of his eye, he saw the fruit, which had rolled just beyond his fingertips. Slowly, he put out his hand, grabbing it, feeling the firm skin under his palms as he rolled it around. Something to do with the fruit, with the tree—right?

Like the words of the wish, the moment had gone from him. There was something he should be able to remember, but he couldn’t, no matter how hard he tried. Something to do with the sun god. It had been important.

But he couldn’t. He couldn’t remember.

He bit into the fruit, tasted the sweet juice on his tongue, the tartness of its flesh. He wiped at his eyes, because they were suddenly wet. When he finished the fruit, he kept walking, because he knew he had _some place_ he needed to be.

The ever present sense Tobio had of his destination was getting stronger by the day. He felt certain that he must be getting close, to wherever it was he was trying to reach. It was almost as though he were being shoved along, racing, rushing toward his destination. Stopping for rest seemed no longer to be necessary, and he sometimes found himself moving forward without remembering the steps he’d taken before, as if he was constantly being shaken out of a trance. The force that was his guide encouraged him ever onward.

Eventually, the dreams started.

*

_The temple was quiet that evening. There was no one in the halls, the steps of the fountains were empty. Strange. Where were the people?_

_Where was Hinata?_

_He searched, moving from room to room. He wanted to call out but everything was so silent. He stayed silent as well._

_It was only after he’d searched from top to bottom, after the small pang of worry in his chest had started to grow, that he saw something at the end of one long hallway. Movement. Someone sitting in one of the courtyards._

_Hinata?_

_It seemed to take forever to reach the end of the hall, and he walked and walked, until finally he was there. He recognized the back of the small figure, sitting against one of the large pillars, staring out at the wide river._

_Why couldn’t he call out? He wanted to call out, but his voice wouldn’t dislodge itself from his throat. Instead, he just walked closer, closer, until he could move around in front of the pillar, until he was standing in front of the figure sitting there._

_Hinata didn’t look at him. The sun god looked past him, watching the water, his small hands picking absently at his clothes. He looked exactly like Tobio remembered him, and yet nothing like his memories at all._

_He was fading._

_The bright colors of his appearance had dimmed. The warm blaze of his hair had cooled, was closer to a soft, willowy brown, the strands lifting off his forehead in the breeze. His eyes were hooded, complacent as they stared off into the distance. The precious gold of them was nearly gone, reduced to specks in an otherwise dulled face. The ever present flush of his cheeks had turned pallid._

_Hinata’s mouth had taken the shape of the smallest smile, but his eyes were tired and heavy._

_Tobio reached for him, to touch him, to set them both alight—_

He woke, gasping, his hand outstretched toward something, someone who was missing. His fingers curled around air. He had been dreaming, but now that he was awake, he couldn’t remember what he’d dreamed about at all.

He fell back against the hard ground that was his bed for that night, wishing for the warmth of another beside him. His hands trembled, as if they recalled the way they had once stroked through soft hair, thumbs brushing over cheeks dimpled with a smile, as he stared into bright eyes, captivating eyes…

What color had they been?

He pressed the heels of his palms into his own eyes, as though feeling them within his skull would jog his memory, a memory, _any_ memory. But it wouldn’t come.

He remembered he had loved them, but that was all. He couldn’t remember what those eyes had looked like, when they gazed back at him and loved him in return.

The dreams didn’t stop. Every night, he had them. Every morning, he woke not being able to remember them. He began to wonder if it was these dreams that were leading him onward, the source of his mysterious knowledge.

 _“What are you doing?”_ a voice asked him one night. Startled, he looked around for the source before realizing they were not addressing him, that he had fallen asleep.

_Hinata rolled his head to the side to look at the speaker. He was in his usual spot, looking out at the river. In earlier dreams, he sometimes walked the halls, or sat with his feet dangling in the waterfall pools in his temple clearing. But as the nights wore on that had ceased. Now he rarely moved from that one courtyard. It seemed to be too much effort._

_“Hi,” he said simply to the approaching figure, and something like one of his old smiles flashed across his face._

_The figure moved forward, came into view, and sat next to Hinata to watch the river with him. He was small, smaller even than the sun god, dark haired with one shock of yellow, like a lightning bolt, in the center._

_“Try again, that smile was pitiful,” this smaller man—if he really was just a man—said._

_Hinata tried to elbow him in the side, but the gesture was slight and weak._

_“Hey,” the other said. “You should respect your seniors.”_

_“You should be nicer to me,” Hinata said._

_“Why, because you made a dumb decision?”_

_“Wasn’t dumb,” Hinata huffed stubbornly._

_“You knew what would happen if you granted the wish.”_

_“That’s why I did it.”_

_“So that you could just fade away?”_

_Hinata shook his head. “No. So he could be happy.”_

_The other man let out a bark of a laugh. “You know, the mortals think that if they make a wish when they see one of you falling, it’ll come true? They have no idea it’s already too late.”_

_Hinata smiled. “It still gives them hope, doesn’t it?”_

_“I’ll never understand stars.” His friend shook his head. “Why are all of you so eager to sacrifice yourselves? Wasn’t he happy here? With you?”_

_“Wouldn’t he have told me he wanted to stay?” Hinata asked._

_“It's not his choice.” The other man turned to him, his gaze curious. “Did you ever ask?”_

_The sun god was silent. Finally, he said, “Why are you here?”_

_“Why wouldn’t I be?” The man reached out to take his hand. “Didn’t want you to feel like you were alone.”_

_“Oh…” Hinata said. “But I don’t.” He leaned over to rest his head on his friend’s shoulder._

_“That’s good,” the man said._

_“I know you think I’m just saying that,” Hinata continued. “But it’s a different feeling. Being by myself, or being alone, I guess.”_

_“Those are the same thing.”_

_“Did you come here to cheer me up or not?” Hinata complained, and the other man laughed. “It’s—I don’t know how to explain it,” the sun god continued. “It’s just… once someone loves you, that feeling doesn’t go away. Loves_ you _—not the idea of what you are. It stayed with me. So, I don’t feel alone.”_

_“Well, I wouldn't know much about it,” the man said, and his voice had lost the teasing tone and become gentle. “But it sounds really nice, little sun.”_

_“It is. I think someday you'll know, too.”_

_“Is it worth it?”_

_Hinata nodded. “It’s worth everything. I still miss him, though.”_

_“That’s okay.”_

_They sat in silence for awhile. Then Hinata asked, in a tiny voice: “But... it’ll be over soon, right?”_

_“Yeah,” the other man said, pulling him closer as Hinata’s dimming brown eyes started to fill with tears._

_“That’s good,” he said, trying to smile. “Because it really—I really—” He turned, burying his face in the smaller man’s neck, and sobbed. “Did I make a mistake? Should I have kept him?”_

Yes, _Tobio wanted to scream at him, but he had no voice. The other man tightened his grip on Hinata’s shoulders._

_“No,” he lied, staring out at the river, his gaze far and unblinking. “No, this was for the best.”_

When Tobio woke up, it was with tears running down his face, and more pieces missing from his mind. The dream was already forgotten. The sharp pang in his chest made him want to move on, to complete his journey.

He owed it to the sun god, whose face he couldn’t remember, whose name he no longer knew.

*

At the end of it all, there was another village.

The path Tobio had taken through a lush and misty valley wound right past it. It was the type of village most people would ordinarily have continued through without thinking much about it, perhaps stopping only to have a single meal before moving onward. The name of it probably fled people’s minds if ever they tried to recall it. It wasn’t rundown or unpleasant, but neither was it grand or impressive. It was just there, a waystation on the way to brighter and more exciting things.

But for Tobio, this was the place to which his whole life had led. He could feel it, feel how the ever present pull he’d lived with for the past few weeks had suddenly stopped, as though an anchor had been dropped. It thrummed within him, dormant, but a reminder that his journey was not quite over, not yet.

He didn’t know where to start. The call forward was strong, but that didn’t necessarily mean it was accurate. So he made his way into the town, deciding to stop at the inn there in the hopes someone would be able to tell him where to go.

“Who did you say you were looking for?” the innkeeper asked as he wiped down one of the tables. Tobio stood to the side, fidgeting.

“I, uh… I don’t know?” he said, promptly hoping the ground would swallow him whole as the innkeeper looked at him, unimpressed. “A man and woman, both with dark hair. The man is… tall?”

“Tall,” the man repeated. “And what brings you looking?”

“I don’t… know,” Tobio said again. The tightness under his skin hummed and he raised a hand to rub at his chest. “I just… someone told me this is where they’d be.” He should know, shouldn’t he? Something this important, he should know why he was looking, who had helped him. They gnawed at him, those things he couldn’t remember.

“So,” the innkeeper said, leaning a hand on the table. “You don’t know why you’re here, you don’t know who sent you, and you don’t know who it is you’re looking for in the first place? Do I have that straight?”

“Yes— _no_ —” Tobio shook his head. “Please. I’ve been—I’ve been searching for them for a very, very long time, and I know it all sounds like I’m making this up, but I just needed to _try_.”

There must have been something about his last effort that rang true. The man nodded once. “Well, I know of someone you might see. Haven't lived here as long as most of us, so if you've been searching...”

“Yes?” Tobio asked eagerly.

“And look, we all know each other around here, so I’d warn you against attempting anything funny—”

“Nothing funny will be attempted,” Tobio reassured him.

“Alright,” the man sighed. “Keep on down the road, over the first hill you come to and down a ways, near the tall tree. There’s a house there, family that seems to fit your description. Go by the name of—”

“Thank you!” Tobio shouted, a little too loudly, before he could hear the end of the sentence. He turned, racing out of the inn, to follow the path once more. His mind raced, too—what would he say? How did he call out to them? He suddenly wished he hadn’t cut the innkeeper off, but he could only move forward now, not back.

The hill was a high, sloping one, and once he could see over it, he stopped to catch his breath so he wouldn’t look so frantic. Looking ahead, he froze.

There, in the distance, was the large tree, green and full, near the garden of a small cottage. And in the garden was…

_His family._

Their backs were to him. He couldn’t see their faces. But it was them—he knew without a _doubt_ , it was them.

His mother, no longer a girl, had long, dark hair. She had shoes on her feet, her skin was clear and healthy, and her shoulders were straight and steady. His father, also grown, was broad and even taller. His hair tapered at his neck the same way Tobio’s did.

And two children, young, with dark hair, ran about them, playing in the yard of their house, tumbling in the grass.

Standing where he was, he couldn’t hear their laughter. But he could see they were happy.

He could run, down the hill and up the road, he could run to them and tell them everything. He could call out to them as he got closer.

As he watched, the wind blew, and his mother began to turn. Through the flurry of her dark locks, he could almost see her face.

His heart wrenched, a spasm that rippled outward through his entire body, and he was suddenly not seeing the people down the hill under the tree.

_He was seeing a golden temple, a familiar room with high arched windows, a balcony with a view of waterfalls, a bed he knew was soft, that called to him as if he were weary and aching._

_He was seeing a figure, prone, asleep? An arm hung over the edge of the bed, listless—lifeless. Slender fingers trailing down toward the ground, slack and unmoving._

He didn’t like this.

_Dry lips moved silently, briefly, before going still._

The vision he was seeing started to fade. And he heard a voice, a soft voice, so sweet and so sad that it could have brought winter in summer, darkness during the day. It was a voice of longing, and regret; but sadder still, it was not bitter, or angry. It was understanding. It was resignation.

It was saying goodbye.

_Like a whisper, it breathed, “Tobio.”_

Tobio broke through the vision like a drowning man gasping for air. Now he saw again the garden, saw his mother turning, just half a second and he would see her face, for the first time in his life—

He fell away, throwing himself backward with the effort it took, tumbling gracelessly down the high hill to the bottom where he lay on his back, stunned, out of breath.

Again. It wasn’t a dream, this time, but as his memory of the vision began to fade he knew he was missing something, and if he could just _remember_ —

He jammed his palms into his eyes, trying to keep the memory from escaping. His heart was pounding, and more than just his heart, the wish he had made was urging him onwards, as if saying, _they’re right there, you’re almost_ —

Where?

Home, was the most obvious answer. Home, with his family. That was what he had wished for, to know who his family was, to find out where he belonged. Home, the place he belonged, was over that hill.

Except… was it? He pulled his hands away from his face, staring up at the sky above, where the mistiness of the morning air had cleared to reveal blue skies. The sun above warmed the air and his skin, it warmed him, but there was something missing from it, just like there was something missing from _him_ , and he balled his hands into fists and squeezed his eyes shut, because his family was over the hill, and everything was wrong. Even if he didn’t know what it was, it was _wrong_.

He laid one of his clenched fists over his heart, and silently begged it to _stop._

Tears pricked at his eyes. He just wanted to go home. He just wanted _a home_. That was all.

His heart tugged at him.

“Stop,” he said out loud, thumping at it with his fist. But it did not.

What was the matter with him? What was he missing, why did he know this was wrong?

How could he want so dearly for something he’d never had?

The ache in his heart made him gasp, an ache of longing, and now he slammed his fist to his chest, angrily, shouting, “I _know_ , dumbass! I get it!”

And this, somehow, made him understand. It wasn’t just a missing piece. It was a missing someone.

He was missing someone, no matter how much the wish he’d made tried to force him forward. If he moved forward, he would have what he’d always wanted, but he would lose what he’d left behind.

What was _home?_ Where did he _belong?_

“I made a wish,” he said. On what? No, not what…  

 _You made a wish,_ the thought echoed. _You belong to me. Pray to me._

To _who?_ he started to wonder, as the hot carving of his heart threatened to overwhelm him with the need to see the wish through, and he _pounded_ himself in the chest, over, and over.

“I don’t _want_ it!” he yelled, then, punctuating each word with a strike of his fist straight to his heart:

“I—belong—with— _Hinata!”_

The ache went away. Stopped, as suddenly as if it had never been there at all. He gasped, sitting up, his hands flying to his heaving chest.

“Hinata,” he repeated again, the sound a benediction on his lips. _“Please.”_

And a voice said, “I’m _here.”_

He snapped his gaze upward, and there, above him, shining and golden, was the god of light, spirit of the sun.

Hinata simply _beamed_ at him.

Tobio stretched out a hand to him. “Take me back,” he said hoarsely. “Take me _back.”_

In the next second, they were no longer in the village in the misty valley.

They were somewhere Tobio remembered very well. A room, with a bed, and large arches that led to a balcony overlooking waterfalls.

He spun around, and Hinata was there. There in the room with him, small and beautiful and bright, no longer faded—and Tobio remembered the dreams, he remembered everything, like he'd never left.

“You—idiot—” Tobio blurted out, and this was not the first thing he wanted to say, but words had failed him.

“I thought—” Hinata started to explain, wringing his hands together, “I thought I was giving you what you wanted. I thought you wanted it more than anything.”

“I _did_ ,” Tobio admitted. “But that was _before_ I knew you.”

He took two steps and folded Hinata into a crushing hug. “Stupid, _stupid_ ,” he murmured unsteadily, his cheek pressed against that bright, bright hair. He didn’t know if he was talking about Hinata, or himself—probably both of them.

He felt warm arms come up, squeezing hard against his back, and he etched every detail into his memory, the weight and pressure of each one of Hinata’s fingers as they dug into his shoulders a little too tight, the sharp chin against his breastbone, the curve of Hinata’s back as he pushed himself onto the tips of his toes to lean into Tobio, aligning their bodies. His hand in Hinata’s hair, soft strands between his fingers. The feel of him. The scent of him. All things he had sworn to remember.

“I forgot you,” Tobio realized, his voice barely a whisper. “I promised you, and I—”

“Don’t.” Hinata shook his head against his chest. “You didn’t forget me—you _remembered._ You weren’t supposed to, but you did. You saved me.”

“How?” Tobio asked, still not fully understanding.

Hinata pulled back enough to look up into his face. “A real wish is something I can only do once. It uses up too much energy—all of it. But only when it’s fulfilled.” 

"But I found my family," Tobio said. 

“And you turned away from them. Why did you do that?” Hinata asked, his voice filled with genuine curiosity.

Tobio took Hinata’s cheeks in his hands, brushing his palms over the face of this god, the bright being who had brought so much light to him. And he understood. 

“Because I wished for somewhere to belong,” he told Hinata. “And here I am.”

And then Hinata was kissing him, finally, his mouth warm, and Tobio’s lips found his without missing a beat, because they were meant to love and be loved by each other. When Hinata drew back, he was laughing as he quickly swiped a hand across his eyes.

“What is it?” Tobio asked, knowing full well his eyes were wet, too.

Hinata smiled. “You’re looking at me like you’ve come home.”

And Tobio knew he had, _he had._

He was home.

*

“Did you like them?” Hinata asked, many nights later in the soft sheets and warmth of their bed.

“Like who?” Tobio asked, not really caring much about the answer. He was too distracted, his senses too full of the bare golden god in his arms, the sight and sound and smell of him.

“The new wish speakers,” Hinata said, steadfastly ignoring the hands and mouth roaming all over his body. “I was thinking… maybe we could throw a real party for you this year. For your birthday.”

With Hinata fully restored, the cycle of the Festival of Lights had reset, and a new set of followers had been brought to the temple (only a few weeks late).

Tobio blinked at him, then ducked his head. “I don’t really care.”

Hinata clapped his hands together. “We can start off with a week of celebrations—”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” Tobio said, rolling him onto his back to kiss him.

 _As long as I’m with you, anything’s fine._  

But he didn’t say that. He’d been thinking for a long time about what he wanted to tell Hinata.

When they remembered to breathe, Tobio said significantly, “I _do_ have a birthday wish.”

“Tell me,” Hinata hummed, his voice dropping low.

“Okay, but, look—it might take me longer than a year to pay it off.”

Hinata pulled a face. “Ugh, so I’ll be stuck with you, then?”

 _“Oy,”_ Tobio said, caging the little god under him. Hinata laughed unrepentantly. “Be serious.”

“I am being serious,” Hinata said, very seriously, before breaking into a huge smile.

Tobio rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Here it goes.” He took a deep breath and nearly choked on air when Hinata craned his neck up to kiss him, forcing him to swallow nothing and suffer a fit of coughing. “Hinata! I’m trying to tell you something.”

“Sorry, sorry…” Hinata said.

Tobio huffed out a laugh at the pout on his face—but more than that, at how much he loved this, the light in Hinata’s eyes, every expression he made, ever _would_ make. He would never tire of it.

“I’m sorry,” Hinata apologized again. “I’m listening.”

“Good,” Tobio said, relaxing his fists on either side of Hinata’s head. He pushed his fingers through Hinata’s own, threading them together, drinking in the details of Hinata’s being—the way his eyes opened a little wider for every centimeter Tobio leaned in closer, the way his small fingers curled closed against Tobio’s large hands, the way his lips parted and his breathing quickened in anticipation.

“Hinata,” Tobio said softly, “I want you to rise, and set, with me.”

Golden eyes fluttered, watching him, watching his mouth move. Tobio leaned in to kiss his forehead gently.

“Today?” Hinata whispered as he understood, and Tobio pulled back so the little god could see him nod his head in confirmation.

“Today.”

“Tomorrow?” the sun god breathed. Tobio nodded again and Hinata’s eyes slid shut, tears trickling down his cheeks and into his hair. Tobio pressed his lips gently to both eyelids.

“Yes, tomorrow, too,” he reassured him. “Tomorrow, and for the rest of my life.”

Hinata wrapped his arms around Tobio’s neck before opening his eyes. The fire in them blazed as bright as it ever had.

“And all the rest of your long, long life,” he vowed, before surging upward to capture Tobio’s lips against his own. Hinata’s hands went to his face, his hair, his shoulders, anywhere and everywhere he could reach, and Tobio wrapped his arms around the little god as tight as he could, holding fast to that light that would never go out, that he would never let go of again, not as long as he lived.

When they finally pulled apart, he noticed Hinata’s expression drawing downward.

“What are you frowning about?” he asked. The sun god drew him in, bringing their mouths close enough for them to share the same breath.

“Are you telling me,” Hinata murmured against Tobio’s mouth, “that I need to grant a wish in order to do my damn job?”

“Bullshit, right?” Tobio whispered back, and kissed him again. 

It was bullshit, of course. He'd never needed to have his wish granted.

Hinata was there. He had nothing else to wish for.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now after all my searching, after all my questions  
> I'm gonna call it home  
> I've got a brand new mindset, [I can finally see the sunset](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYqaD55sJ7c&index=1&list=PL8RWissld6x8G5OKHzpaxAfpoyIUvODrw)  
> I'm gonna call it home
> 
> \--
> 
> Slowly working on a collection of standalone stories for this theme:  
> [This Place in the Sky](http://archiveofourown.org/works/5933400) \- an AsaNoya story.  
> [The Long Road](http://archiveofourown.org/works/8662912) \- a KuroKen story.
> 
> A bunch of wonderful people have created art and graphics and asked a lot of awesome questions about this story, all located in the ['Somewhere to Belong' tag](http://esselley.tumblr.com/search/somewhere+to+belong) on my tumblr, if you are interested in taking a look. Thank you all so, so much for reading, kudos-ing, commenting <3 It means a lot.
> 
> [[@esselley](http://esselley.tumblr.com/) on Tumblr, [@Esselle_hq](https://twitter.com/Esselle_hq) on Twitter]


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